UP crews in Rockview

ROCKVIEW, Mo. -- Rockview resident Les Glastetter has not resigned himself to the fact that someday in the near future 50 trains daily will be rumbling by his house. So when he looks out his window and sees Union Pacific moving forward with construction as though the hotly contested track swap will soon be a reality, he gets upset.

"They're trying to claim this is all one project, that the work they're doing is only maintenance for the drainage issue, but meanwhile they're sneaking the rest of this in," he said. "You don't need to be hauling in all that dirt for drainage."

Glastetter is referring to work that started three weeks ago, work UP characterizes as "track improvements." UP has not received federal approval from the Surface Transportation Board for the track swap, and STB officials were unaware of the work at Rockview.

The last few weeks, crews could be seen doing deep boring and pipe work, apparently to correct long-standing drainage problems. Crews were also smoothing ground and laying rock for what will be a second track and a widened turn radius for trains switching from the east/west to the north/south tracks.

The majority of the work the crews are doing is to correct the drainage problem, said Scott County Commissioner Jamie Burger. "But they are also doing some work in anticipation of the track swap going through. They feel pretty confident they're going to get approval."

But an official with the federal STB said the agency has not yet received the proper paperwork from UP in order to make an environmental analysis on the proposed swap.

"If they're doing expansion, then they're doing that at their own risk, because if this is not approved or a different design is approved, then they're going to have to tear all that out and start over," said Vicki Rutson of the STB.

Union Pacific did not return repeated telephone calls seeking comment.

Heated issue

Rockview is near the crossing of the St. Louis-to-Sikeston track currently owned by Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the Dexter-to-Valley Junction track owned by UP. The unincorporated village of approximately 500 people is at the epicenter of a 23-mile track swap between the two companies that promises to increase train traffic at the crossing to almost 50 trains daily.

BNSF is exchanging the Missouri section of track for UP's rights to a section of track in Colorado.

Strong opposition to the plan has arisen not only in tiny Rockview and neighboring Chaffee but also in Sikeston, where increased train traffic would divide the city for long periods of time. The voices of dissent are so loud that during a recent trip to Sikeston U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, said her office would never support the swap and promised to voice her dissatisfaction with the STB in Washington.

But some Rockview residents say they don't mind the railroad expansion as long as UP acts like a good neighbor.

Norman Gribler originally didn't like the idea but says it makes sense from UP's perspective. "If the trains are moving at a higher rate of speed there won't be as much delay," he said. "Now you've got two different companies and two different schedules, and there's always a bottleneck. This plan will be much more efficient."

The widening of the curve will allow trains to travel 30 mph through the connection at Rockview, up from the current speed of 10 mph. But the boost in train traffic means the approximately 200 Rockview residents living south of the UP line will find County Road 209, the primary road to the town, increasingly blocked.

"It's going to make a bad situation worse for them to get in and out of their town," Burger said.

Crossing concerns

To address safety concerns along the entire route, UP has worked with the Missouri Department of Transportation to produce a list of all the intersections that could be hazardous and to propose solutions. They came up with a list of 25 locations, the majority of which are in Chaffee, Oran and Sikeston. They paired these sites with proposed safety measures.

For most of the crossings, the proposed solution is new lights, gates and signage. But for three hotly contested locations MoDOT recommended that UP share the cost of installing a "grade separation," generally meaning a bridge-like structure designed to place train and automobile traffic on different planes. Currently UP is unwilling to share the cost of a grade separation at the Yokum Street crossing in Chaffee or the Route Y crossing in Sikeston. UP has not yet committed to pay the costs for a grade separation at the other location, the U.S. 60 crossing in Morehouse, but does not object to the project.

MoDOT cautions that these solutions are still in draft form.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245