This story from the Roseburg News Review: The parent company of Roseburg-based Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad plans to submit an application within the next three years to abandon most of the rail line’s Coos Bay spur. In a notice filed last week with the Surface Transportation Board in Washington, D.C., RailAmerica said it plans to abandon nearly all of the 136-mile line between Eugene and Coquille, which was shut down last September for safety reasons. The company would retain a small portion of the line, linking Noti and Eugene with the Union Pacific line at Eugene. Keeping that portion of the tracks would essentially guarantee that another rail line operator would not be interested in taking over the rest of the Coos Bay spur, Rep. Susan Morgan said. It would not be economically feasible to lose out on that portion of the line, which serves a mill in Noti, and also have to pay CORP to run cars over that segment to Eugene. “I think it’s an attempt to throw a red herring into the conversation,” Morgan said. The filing came only a few days before the company was ordered to respond to a show-cause order from the Surface Transportation Board. The transportation board asked RailAmerica to defend its decision to keep the line closed. Today is the deadline for the company to respond to that order. The notice to the STB was filed by Sidley Austin, an international law firm with offices in Washington, D.C., and 15 other cities worldwide. The company represented Fortress Investment Group in its acquisition of RailAmerica and Morgan said she’s encouraged by their involvement. “This may have shown up on RailAmerica’s radar screen as something they need to pay attention to, which I think is a positive sign,” she said. Since the Coos Bay spur closed, shippers have had to transport their products by truck, which is more expensive. Roseburg Forest Products is spending about $167,000 more a month to ship its lumber products from the coast by truck. American Bridge on Bolen Island outside Reedsport has been unable to bid on certain projects because it has no way to ship its massive beams. They have to be transported by rail. Over the weekend, Fortress sold its loan to pop star Michael Jackson on his Neverland Ranch to Colony Capital. Fortress was criticized by Rep. Peter DeFazio and other members of Oregon’s congressional delegation for loaning Jackson a reported $24 million in March rather than using the money to repair tunnels along the Coos Bay spur and reopen the line. The bailout of Jackson was mentioned several times over the past two months as a reason the state of Oregon, shippers and other players in the rail line situation should not provide RailAmerica any financial assistance.
What a joke and disappointment RailAmerica has become. They need to just get out of the railroad business if they are unable to make railroad operating decisions, and sell the railroads to a carrier that can.
Nice poison pill there. It's like they're throwing a temper tantrum, because they didn't get their way.
PNWR seems much more interested in running an actual railroad. It's what they do. They don't get involved in washed-up pop stars' financial woes.
Good News - Bad News ! With yesterdays filing by RailAmerica on the Coos Bay Branch being put into abandonment status is the good news. The Bad News is that if everyone wants the P&W to take over, just look at the Bailey Branch just South of Corvallis. The same excuse that was used for the Bailey Branch was used by CORP for the Coos Bay line. Both lines in sad shape and not enough revenue on both to make repairs! During the Common Carrier Obligation hearings at the STB a railroad can not use the excuse they can't make repairs just because they don't want to. Let another short line railroad run it !
This is where the govt. needs to step in with some leadership. The Coos bay area has too many resources to be left without a rail connection to the rest of the country in this time of rising fuel cost. If fortress can't figure out how to serve this area and make a profit then they should be forced to sell it to someone who will keep it open for future service needs. Rail service needs to be viewed as a public utility just like roads, open to all and supported by all. I'd certainly rather have some of my tax money going to support the coos bay rail service than to support the repair and widening of the highways out of the bay area that the more expensive trucks will use.
With the so called abandonment filing, anyone with an interest to purchase and run the line will have a chance to do so. It takes a lot of time to do that and I expect a lot of noise on this filing!
Quick... somebody in the railfan/foamer community please hit a big lottery jackpot and then come to Oregon. I have some rail projects I can get you connected with.
This is not entirely fair. The Bailey branch has fewer online shippers and no deep water port. The opportunities are entirely different. Which isn't to say there is no value in the Bailey Branch, only that it's a tougher road to hoe. Also, PNWR was much much more accommodating and reasonable with that branch and their customers. If nothing else, RailAmerica seems really good at putting their foot in their mouth.
Question on CORP map Sorry to bend off the subject - this might be the place to ask a question. Has there ever been a line from Roseburg or Dillard to Coquille or Coos Bay? From a driving trip I took years ago, I mistakenly thought the "Coos Bay Line" ran from Dillard to Coquille. Now when I look at a CORP map, I see that the Coos Bay Line runs from Eugene, through Noti to the coast. But is there also trackage from Dillard to the coast? If so, how does it figure into the apparent abandonment? Scott
Scott- Sounds like an interesting topic. How about posting the question in our SP Fallen Flag Forum? Maybe some of the Espee guys will see it, and have a few historic details? Boxcab E50
Here is another story about the Coos Bay Branch Line from "The World" newspaper in Coos Bay: The Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad has given notice it’s ready to abandon the Coos Bay Rail Line. The news came as no surprise this week to the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay and others who already have seen signs of disuse. Trees blown down by winter storms are visible on the tracks between Mapleton and Florence. Sand has drifted over sections of the almost 3-year-old port-owned, CORP-leased rail spur on Coos Bay’s North Spit. Martin Callery, port director of communications and freight mobility, said the sand, if left on the tracks, could sink into the ballast and eventually throw the rail and ties out of alignment. “There used to be weekly inspections, and CORP sent in a crew to shovel sand off the line,” Callery said. That hasn’t happened in months. RailAmerica’s Western region vice president, Bob Jones, said earlier this spring that no company inspectors had checked the tracks over the winter. Callery recently flew over the tracks and looked at the line from public access points with staff from the transportation consulting firm R.L. Banks & Associates. The checks are part of the port’s due diligence effort to try to wrest control of the rail line away from CORP. “There were only two small slide areas that we saw from the air,” he said. One was between Florence and Lakeside, the other on the north end between Eugene and Swisshome. The port hasn’t heard from railroad officials for a couple of months, and Callery doesn’t believe they’ve made efforts to maintain the tracks since closing the line in September. “At this point in time, communication is attorney to attorney,” he said. CORP’s parent company, Florida-based RailAmerica, filed the abandonment notice Monday afternoon with the railroad-regulating U.S. Surface Transportation Board. The 79-page document listed who and what are to blame: * Three tunnels are dangerous. * The Union Pacific, which owns and leases the tracks to CORP from North Bend to Coquille, won’t help pay for repairs. * The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay refused to pay into CORP’s proposal to fix and subsidize the railroad. * Shippers likewise wouldn’t pay. *The state of Oregon repeatedly refused to discuss public-private partnership offers from CORP, unless the railroad were to open the line first. “Accordingly, following the rejection of its most recent proposal by the State of Oregon on April 21, 2008, and subsequent statements by UP indicating that it has no intention of participating financially in any plan to save the Coos Bay Rail Line, CORP has begun the process of seeking authority to abandon the line,” the document said. The company says it won’t reopen the 136-mile rail line. It said in legal documents it intends to start the formal process to abandon the tracks and tunnels within three years. The filing came in response to a demand by the STB last month that the railroad justify why it shouldn’t be forced to fix the tunnels and reopen the tracks or give up ownership. The STB characterized the track closure as an unlawful abandonment. In Monday’s filing, RailAmerica contended it did invest in its tracks and tunnels, so much that from 2003 to 2007 CORP spent 28 percent of the annual gross freight revenues just on normal maintenance. In 2006, the company said, it spent 32 percent of its $2.93 million in revenues for maintenance. The filing is just the first step in abandonment, but apparently not a formal notice of intent to walk away. That could come mid-summer. Company officials weren’t readily available to comment Tuesday. RailAmerica’s assistant general manager of engineering, Patrick Kerr, said he wasn’t able to say much about the situation when asked late Tuesday afternoon if the company intends to sell the line or rip up and recycle the steel tracks. “I think that just gives us all those options,” he said. No other company or public entity can step in immediately to repair tunnels and tracks or open the line. Engineers already have said bids for any summertime tunnel repairs had to have been issued this spring. Without willing partners, CORP didn’t move on repairs. The Port of Coos Bay has attorneys working to file a feeder line application to the STB to force the railroad to fix the line or sell it. That will take months. The port will have to submit a plan for buying and operating the line for three years. Even then, the port has no intention of running the railroad. It would seek another company to do it. Oregon officials still were reviewing the documents they received Tuesday. The governor’s office wasn’t ready to comment other than saying the state would file a response in the coming weeks, but both Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., had read enough to at least issue terse press releases. “The railroad’s choice to abandon these tracks is leaving our rail- dependent communities out to dry,” Smith wrote. “If they will not repair them, we need to move ahead with a plan to get another carrier in and get these tracks up and running.”
At least there is going to be a fight to keep the tracks in place. Hopifully a responsible party will take over and get the repairs made that need done. If they are only leasing the tracks from the UP, I don't see how they can rip the tracks up anyway.
They can't- they can discontinue service on the line, but only UP can have the tracks taken up. This was how it worked when Texas Northeastern stopped operating the ex-T&P line between Paris and New Boston.
It looks like it said UP owns the tracks from NorthBend ( on coos bay) to coquille( east of coos bay) does this mean the longer northern portion of the line from north bend to eugene belongs to corp?....dave
I can't claim any personal knowledge about this, but in doing some scenery research I came across Joe Fugate's website about his Siskiyou line HO railroad. In it he has this to say: I'll plug for Joe, I haven't purchased any of his videos, but his Railroad is pretty awesome and his tips and tricks, even what he offers for free on that site are pretty spectacular. Joe Fugate's Siskiyou Line: content / home page
There is no railroad between Roseburg and Coquille. The Espee line goes from Eugene to Powers via Coos Bay. I believe part of the line to Powers is gone south of Coos Bay.
