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Re: Anything is for sale at the right price
Author: Erik H.
Date: 08-30-2015 - 09:02
Taxpayer Wrote:
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> How much did the UP make on the sale of the Las
> Vegas Nv yard?
Just before TriMet started construction of WES between Beaverton and Wilsonville, it forgot that it didn't own the Beaverton-Tigard portion of the line (UP did), about 5 miles of track. (BNSF had already sold the former Oregon Electric trackage from Tigard south to ODOT.) Washington County officials had to fly to Omaha and present a $24 million check to buy up the 5 miles of track. Oh, and grant UP (and its assignee, Portland & Western) a "permanent freight easement" on the track.
In comparison, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay bought a 134 mile line from Eugene to Coos Bay for the bargain basement price of $16.6 million.
Meanwhile, UP is the proud owner of an island of track from Beaverton to near Gaston, and a tiny little branch from Hillsboro up to Schefflin. A few years ago UP even put up "Union Pacific Railroad - No Trespassing" signs on a piece of land it owned in downtown Hillsboro that Portland & Western wasn't using, but it has since apparently sold that lot. No word on the price tag.
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> How much did the UP make on the sale of the Las
> Vegas Nv yard?
Just before TriMet started construction of WES between Beaverton and Wilsonville, it forgot that it didn't own the Beaverton-Tigard portion of the line (UP did), about 5 miles of track. (BNSF had already sold the former Oregon Electric trackage from Tigard south to ODOT.) Washington County officials had to fly to Omaha and present a $24 million check to buy up the 5 miles of track. Oh, and grant UP (and its assignee, Portland & Western) a "permanent freight easement" on the track.
In comparison, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay bought a 134 mile line from Eugene to Coos Bay for the bargain basement price of $16.6 million.
Meanwhile, UP is the proud owner of an island of track from Beaverton to near Gaston, and a tiny little branch from Hillsboro up to Schefflin. A few years ago UP even put up "Union Pacific Railroad - No Trespassing" signs on a piece of land it owned in downtown Hillsboro that Portland & Western wasn't using, but it has since apparently sold that lot. No word on the price tag.
