WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis has issued its final Environmental Impact Statement for the Green Eagle Railroad, a 1.3-mile line that would be part of a new 19-mile rail route and bridge connecting Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negas, Mexico.
The report addresses two route alternatives, the Southern and Northern rail alternatives, and recommends mitigation action in three areas: Sound barriers on bridges to address noise; archaeological surveys and monitoring of construction sites to address possible archaeological deposits; and measures to protect potential threatened or endangered species and migratory birds.
A preliminary report had been released in March [see “STB issues draft …,” Trains.com, March 14, 2025]. The final report was developed after a comment period that included 104 written or verbal submissions from 92 commenters; the final report says none of those comments “required additional analysis or substantive changes to the text of the draft EIS.”
The 150-page final document is available here, with 709 pages of appendices available here. The matter now goes to the STB for a final decision.
The Green Eagle Railroad would be part of a secure corridor for BNSF and Union Pacific traffic, including a new double-track bridge across the Rio Grande [see “Second rail bridge proposed for Eagle Pass …,” Trains.com, Dec. 15, 2023].
Like UP (and BNSF) are going to take all their facility expansion and just chuck it? I highly doubt it.
Meanwhile the crossing at Presidio grows weeds waiting on the US Customs to get a security station built out.