WASHINGTON— Federal regulators will determine whether BNSF Railway can use its trackage rights over Union Pacific to reach a new short line railroad in Utah.
The Surface Transportation Board yesterday rejected Union Pacific’s request to dismiss the case regarding the Savage Tooele Railroad.
Savage held a groundbreaking ceremony in November for the railroad [see “Groundbreaking held …,” Trains News Wire, Nov. 8, 2024]. It will revive Union Pacific’s former 6-mile Warner Branch, restore a quarter mile of ripped-up track, and build 5 miles of new track in the Lakeview Business Park, which is being developed in Grantsville, southwest of Salt Lake City.
The short line connects with UP’s Shafter Subdivision via a 1.04-mile connecting track. UP reactivated the track last year.
BNSF argues that the UP connecting track is an attempt to create a one-mile barrier between the Shafter Sub and the Savage Tooele Railroad, which would prevent BNSF from interchanging with the short line and reaching customers at the business park.
BNSF was granted trackage rights to operate over the Shafter Subdivision as well as the right to interchange with any new shortline connecting to the line as a condition of the STB’s 1996 approval of the UP-Southern Pacific merger.
The STB rejected UP’s claim that the dispute should be settled through arbitration and said a board proceeding was the proper forum for “a dispute with potentially broad implications concerning conditions imposed in the UP/SP merger.”
Under a schedule set by the board, BNSF’s opening submission is due Sept. 25. UP’s reply is due by Oct. 27. BNSF’s rebuttal will be due by Nov. 24.
BNSF doesn’t use the line west of Salt Lake anyway. They only want access now after all these years of non-use only hoping to steal away something they have never had before. What the STB should say is that any cars from supposed BNSF customers would be switched by UP (or their contractor, in this case Savage- Tooele, pronounced Two-eel-ah) from and to Shafter Junction and can then be picked up by a BNSF local or more likely, a Savage-Tooele local (one does use or has used the main line in the past) paying UP the proper fees for technical access to their (Warner Branch) line which while transit was abandoned is still owned by UP. Everybody wins, if that is the intent of all of this by BNSF and not just trying to stick their foot in the door however they can…
Does Savage RR have any customers yet? Or better still when will the first customer appear? That date should be the final STB decision with proviso if UP looses then UP will be penalized loosing some traffic there for some length of time.
What a waste of time for all involved. If the two railroads could just work together everything would move along that much faster. Instead, they act like children and need to be told what to do. That doesn’t benefit anybody. If UP or BNSF could offer consistent and quality service, they both will do fine.
Easy to work together. One RR railroad serves the park on odd calendar days and the other on even calendar days. Swap days at the end of year except every 4 years. Then if an occasional problem work it out on a daily basis.
give them access UP you both need this.
UP doesn’t need to and they won’t. If the roles were reversed BNSF would do the same thing. That’s just the way it is right now.
Who knows what the STB will recommend. BNSF may get direct access but more likely is UP moving BNSF cars to and from an interchange point, such as SLC.
Agreed…its is UP’s branch line…