WASHINGTON — Green Eagle Railroad, which aims to build a cross-border rail and truck corridor through the Eagle Pass, Texas, gateway, has urged the Surface Transportation Board to reject Union Pacific’s request that the project face a full regulatory review.
Last month, UP argued that construction of the 19-mile cross-border line is unnecessary and would snarl rail traffic on its main line leading to and from the international bridge over the Rio Grande.
Green Eagle aims to build a secure cross-border corridor that includes 1.3 miles of double track between UP’s Clark’s Park Yard and a new double-track span over the Rio Grande, followed by a 17.79-mile single-track line to Ferromex’s Rio Escondido Yard in Piedras Negras, Mexico.
Green Eagle sought to have the construction and operation of the project exempt board review. But UP said that Green Eagle should be required to submit a full application — and said it has no plans to use the route.
“The Board should reject the Union Pacific Comments arguing that the Proposed Line is not in the public interest because the Union Pacific Comments fails to overcome the Congressional presumption that the Proposed Line is in the public interest,” Green Eagle said in a Monday filing with the STB. “Not only should the Proposed Line be granted the benefit of the doubt that it is in the public interest, it is in fact in the public interest because — as demonstrated in the Final [environmental impact statement] — it would route traffic away from the City of Eagle Pass and the City of Piedras Negras resulting in beneficial impacts to the public on noise, grade crossing safety, grade crossing delay, and air quality.”
The project received a presidential permit for the new bridge crossing into Mexico, Green Eagle noted.
The corridor also would address concerns raised in a Texas Department of Transportation border-crossing plan because it would eliminate the single-track bridge bottleneck at the border, Green Eagle said.
If UP opposes this so strongly, it probably would be a major benefit to the flow of rail traffic between countries. More options, better competition.
Except UP and BNSF are already making major investment, doing now exactly what Green Eagle is saying it will do. But if nobody uses Green Eagle, then what? As they say, “A bridge built to nowhere…”
Vincent, If no one uses it, then they go bankrupt, and then UP and BNSF gain a cheap detour.
A better map maybe?
Myeb ATSF should not have been so hasty to tear uthe Kansas City Mexico & Orient. The KCM&O had proposed a line to Eagle Pass..
Maybe*, tear up*.. We need a edit function..