I don't know why but the link didn't work so here is the article

Railroad and harbor officials may ask the state for some $19 million toward reopening the rail line from Samoa to South Fork and improve the Humboldt Bay entrance to ease a sometimes hazardous shoaling problem.

The North Coast Railroad Authority and the Humboldt Bay Harbor, Recreation and Conservation District are proposing to jointly apply to the California Transportation Commission for a share of Proposition 1B bond money. The project, the application says, would restore competitive rail service at the north end of the line, relieve highway congestion and make navigation into the bay more efficient and safe.

The agencies have prepared a plan to provide matching funds for the $38 million effort from the federal government, according to the draft application. The rail authority would work with its operator to get funding through the Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program, it reads, and other federal money.

The matter will be considered by the rail authority on Wednesday, when Humboldt Bay trail advocates are scheduled to give a presentation on using the rail line for bike, pedestrian and other nonmotorized uses.

Railroad authority Executive Director Mitch Stogner said there are possibilities
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for rail and trail arrangement around Humboldt Bay.

”There are also a lot of complications and things that need to be worked out,” Stogner said.

Stogner said the Proposition 1B funds are an opportunity to get another portion of the line up and running, as the authority is doing at the south end of the line between Willits and Lombard. That effort has met with a lawsuit from the city of Novato. In the middle, between South Fork and Willits, is the Eel River Canyon, where the tracks are the most severely damaged.

Exactly how a rail line between South Fork and Samoa -- not exactly centers of trade -- would survive on its own is not clear. Operator Northwestern Pacific Railroad Co. anticipates, according to the application, that traffic would be general freight that would be transferred from rail to barges in the harbor. That would generate 6,000 carloads annually and remove 48,000 loaded and empty trucks from highways in the area, according to the application.

John Williams with Northwestern said he has talked with a number of potential shippers over the past 18 months, and is convinced there is cargo to be moved. The transportation commission will ask for a business plan if it decides to fund the project, he said, and he'd then look for more assurances from shippers that they are interested in using the line.

He also said there is not enough traffic potential to justify private investment, but public money could allow the adequate operation of the railroad.

The harbor portion of the project looks to change the configuration of the entrance of the bay or use more intensive dredging to keep the mouth of the port from continually shoaling. Sand and sediment regularly piles up in the entrance channel near the South Jetty, and especially in stormy years can be hazardous.

The application proposes 11 different concepts that a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers investigation found would improve the situation. They include building an artificial reef and extending the South Jetty, as well as winter or year-round dredging or building a structure to trap sediment. That portion of the project is estimated to cost $8.1 million.

Skeptic Mike Buettner said both agencies appear completely intent on pursuing rail and port plans despite opposition and other ideas born out of public processes such as the Harbor Revitalization Plan. He said the application, if approved, could stall plans for the other concepts.

”It's just another way of postponing that discussion,” Buettner said.

If approved by the rail authority and the harbor district this week -- and if the transportation commission awards the grant and the federal money is secured -- the environmental analysis of the rail and port project could begin in June.

In all, the application anticipates that construction could begin at the start of February 2009, and be done by March of 2015.

California Transportation Commission Deputy Director Andre Boutros said that most of the Proposition 1B money is aimed at regional projects staff have already identified. The Humboldt Bay region is not among them, he said. But up to $80 million is available for other projects outside those areas, as long as it meets criteria for improving the movement of goods in the state.

”The bottom line is Humboldt can apply,” Boutros said. “It is a competitive process. We have to look at the criteria and how projects relate to one another.”