WASHINGTON — A proposed new, 6-mile Union Pacific branchline in the Phoenix area would have no significant environmental impacts so long as mitigation recommendations are followed, the Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis said today.
As a result, the project — dubbed PIRATE for Pecos Industrial Rail Access Train Extension — will not require a full environmental impact statement, according to the final environmental assessment.
The project, which still requires full approval by the STB, would connect UP’s Phoenix Subdivision to industrial properties southeast of the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport.
In August 2023, the STB’s Office of Environmental Analysis put an indefinite hold on the final environmental assessment of the project after finding what it called “significant ground disturbance and damage to archaeological resources in the area of the proposed right of way.”
UP had worked with the Office of Environmental Analysis for more than two years on environmental and historical reviews when it was discovered that construction activities by third parties had disturbed the ground around the proposed rail line’s route.
The railroad asked adjacent landowners to cease work on UP property and to remove equipment from the right of way. UP also hired a security service, put up no trespassing signs, staked the property boundaries, and installed fencing.
The final environmental assessment is available online.
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There may be a problem whenever a double stack is entering going SE of the airport. Those high cars may not clear the 1.25 FAA requirement of no obstructions. That is a center line clearance and sideways from the center line.