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Re: CORP Closing Siskiyou Line
Author: Crumudgeden
Date: 12-14-2007 - 15:30
Here is the article:
BOCA RATON, Fla. - RailAmerica President and CEO John Giles told TRAINS News Wire today that Central Oregon & Pacific will likely shut down 73 miles of the so-called "Siskiyou Line" in Oregon effective April 15, 2008. Its plan will see the line from near Montague, Calif., to near Medford, Ore., closed.
"It is a mountain subdivision from northern California to southern Oregon. There are hairpin turns and there are tunnels," Giles said. "What we see is, we can work a situation out with Union Pacific where the traffic on the south end can just go out the south end."
Currently, Giles said, traffic from anywhere on the line can go to the UP interchanges at Eugene, Ore., or Weed, Calif. The closure will push traffic originating south of Montague to the Weed interchange and traffic originating north of Medford to the Eugene interchange.
"I need four locomotives to go over that mountain. If I stay on the mountain, I continue to have more tunnel problems. It's just too expensive to keep dragging stuff north and south over the mountain," Giles said.
No local traffic originates on the line slated for closure, but one shipper, Timber Products, moves wood products from a mill in Yreka, Calif., to other plants along CO&P's line that must go over the mountain. Shipping those products to Weed, then over Union Pacific to Eugene, then back south on CO&P, would be uneconomical. Erik Vos, a business analyst with Timber Products, said most of that traffic will shift to trucks after the closure.
In a letter to CO&P shippers to be distributed today, RailAmerica writes it will reduce service over Siskiyou Summit effective Jan. 15. It will continue to run until April 15 and will then cease operations, unless some combination of additional traffic and higher rates can bring the line over the summit back to profitability.
In part, the letter states, "We are in the railroad operating business, so any time we consider discontinuing service, it is painful for us. But we do not want to be in the business of losing money, so we are prepared to make some changes. The Siskiyou Line is difficult, expensive terrain for rail operations. Shifting most of the traffic to the Eugene interchange and reducing our days of service will help us reduce our costs."
The Siskiyou Line, named for the mountain range it traverses, was part of Southern Pacific's line between the Pacific Northwest and California from its completion in 1887 until 1926. That year, SP completed the Natron Cutoff, a less mountainous and shorter line that bypassed the Siskiyou Line to the east.
Through the years, SP continued to run the Siskiyou to serve the forest-products industry along it. However, in 1992, SP did what CO&P proposes to do now - it shut down the line over the Siskiyou Mountains. Its closure stretched from Ashland, Ore., south of Medford, to Montague.
SP spun the line off to the startup CO&P, then owned by RailTex, on Jan. 1, 1995, and six months later, CO&P reopened the closed portion of the line (see July 1997 TRAINS, "Steel Rails to Oregon"). RailAmerica got the line in its 1999 purchase of RailTex.
CO&P incensed shippers with its sudden closure of another Oregon branch, the Coos Bay line, on Sept. 21 of this year, owing to tunnel problems. But a follow-up study by the Federal Railroad Administration found the railroad was right to close the line, and said the tunnels were unsafe for continued rail operations. CO&P has proposed a public-private partnership that could reopen that line.
That issue will make the Siskiyou Line closure harder for shippers to swallow. "Everything's become emotional out there," Giles acknowledged. But he said he's committed to keeping shippers updated on whatever decisions the railroad makes. Some shippers were upset that the railroad had informed regulators and politicians of the Coos Bay Line closure before it informed them.
Shippers along the Coos Bay and Siskiyou lines recently formed a coalition in response to rumors of the closing of Siskiyou Summit.
BOCA RATON, Fla. - RailAmerica President and CEO John Giles told TRAINS News Wire today that Central Oregon & Pacific will likely shut down 73 miles of the so-called "Siskiyou Line" in Oregon effective April 15, 2008. Its plan will see the line from near Montague, Calif., to near Medford, Ore., closed.
"It is a mountain subdivision from northern California to southern Oregon. There are hairpin turns and there are tunnels," Giles said. "What we see is, we can work a situation out with Union Pacific where the traffic on the south end can just go out the south end."
Currently, Giles said, traffic from anywhere on the line can go to the UP interchanges at Eugene, Ore., or Weed, Calif. The closure will push traffic originating south of Montague to the Weed interchange and traffic originating north of Medford to the Eugene interchange.
"I need four locomotives to go over that mountain. If I stay on the mountain, I continue to have more tunnel problems. It's just too expensive to keep dragging stuff north and south over the mountain," Giles said.
No local traffic originates on the line slated for closure, but one shipper, Timber Products, moves wood products from a mill in Yreka, Calif., to other plants along CO&P's line that must go over the mountain. Shipping those products to Weed, then over Union Pacific to Eugene, then back south on CO&P, would be uneconomical. Erik Vos, a business analyst with Timber Products, said most of that traffic will shift to trucks after the closure.
In a letter to CO&P shippers to be distributed today, RailAmerica writes it will reduce service over Siskiyou Summit effective Jan. 15. It will continue to run until April 15 and will then cease operations, unless some combination of additional traffic and higher rates can bring the line over the summit back to profitability.
In part, the letter states, "We are in the railroad operating business, so any time we consider discontinuing service, it is painful for us. But we do not want to be in the business of losing money, so we are prepared to make some changes. The Siskiyou Line is difficult, expensive terrain for rail operations. Shifting most of the traffic to the Eugene interchange and reducing our days of service will help us reduce our costs."
The Siskiyou Line, named for the mountain range it traverses, was part of Southern Pacific's line between the Pacific Northwest and California from its completion in 1887 until 1926. That year, SP completed the Natron Cutoff, a less mountainous and shorter line that bypassed the Siskiyou Line to the east.
Through the years, SP continued to run the Siskiyou to serve the forest-products industry along it. However, in 1992, SP did what CO&P proposes to do now - it shut down the line over the Siskiyou Mountains. Its closure stretched from Ashland, Ore., south of Medford, to Montague.
SP spun the line off to the startup CO&P, then owned by RailTex, on Jan. 1, 1995, and six months later, CO&P reopened the closed portion of the line (see July 1997 TRAINS, "Steel Rails to Oregon"). RailAmerica got the line in its 1999 purchase of RailTex.
CO&P incensed shippers with its sudden closure of another Oregon branch, the Coos Bay line, on Sept. 21 of this year, owing to tunnel problems. But a follow-up study by the Federal Railroad Administration found the railroad was right to close the line, and said the tunnels were unsafe for continued rail operations. CO&P has proposed a public-private partnership that could reopen that line.
That issue will make the Siskiyou Line closure harder for shippers to swallow. "Everything's become emotional out there," Giles acknowledged. But he said he's committed to keeping shippers updated on whatever decisions the railroad makes. Some shippers were upset that the railroad had informed regulators and politicians of the Coos Bay Line closure before it informed them.
Shippers along the Coos Bay and Siskiyou lines recently formed a coalition in response to rumors of the closing of Siskiyou Summit.
