Texas-Pacifico news- good, for once

Trains to jump in speed, numbers
Oil field development spurs change
By Michael Kelly

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

SAN ANGELO, Texas -Trains will take a more prominent role in San Angelo's economy and daily life with the completion of a $25 million set of improvements to the South Orient rail line.

Since the projects began in 2009, the Texas Department of Transportation and the Texas-Pacifico Railway have overseen replacement of miles of steel track and thousands of rail ties to bring sections of the line, which runs from Coleman to Presidio, to higher standard.

Trains running on the portion of the line from Coleman through San Angelo to Fort Stockton now can roll at 25 mph instead of being restricted to the 10 mph speed that was universal on the line before the improvements, said Bill Glavin, director of TxDOT's rail division.

The investment already has paid off with an increase of traffic for Texas Pacifico amounting to nearly 500 percent, said Tim Hammond, the railway's new chief operating officer.

The line improvements have come at a time when new developments are occurring in the Permian Basin oil fields, and Hammond, who started his job Aug. 12 as a replacement for the retiring Roy Williams, said transportation of crude oil and hydrofracking sand has created significant new traffic for the railway.

"With the improvements and also the recent oil discoveries, several customers are looking to locate in this area," he said. "The crude oil companies' volume of traffic could increase substantially, with crude going from the oil fields to the refineries."

The increase will be visible in San Angelo, he said.

"Where you might have seen one train a week, it will be going up to one per day," he said.

And the trains will be moving faster, Glavin said, increasing up to 25 mph over the next couple of months to allow drivers to get accustomed to it.

"Looking down the track, you can't tell how fast it's coming," he said. TxDOT will be working to synchronize signal timing at its eight level crossings in the area, he said.

Safety will be a key concern, Glavin said, noting that 23 Texans last year were killed in vehicle crashes with trains and another 37 died when they were struck by trains while walking along tracks.

The business has grown tremendously, he said, with fracking sand for rupturing oil and gas deposits moving into Fort Stockton, San Angelo, Barnhart and Big Lake by rail, and increasing traffic in crude oil headed to Louisiana refineries.

"It's not limited anymore to grain shipments, as it was when it was first established, " Glavin said.

An additional benefit of increased rail traffic is that it relieves stress and traffic hazards on the region's roadways.

"It's the only railroad that serves this part of the state, and it's really needed for economic development and preservation of the roads," he said.

The amount of fracking sand alone carried by rail is equal to 400 truckloads a week. "It saves wear and tear on the roads and the nerves of drivers," he said.

The Texas Pacifico headquarters moved recently from Brownwood to new offices at 3814 Sherwood Way in San Angelo, Hammond said. The line employs 18 people, with another eight full-time positions contracted on two full-time maintenance crews.

The newly completed improvements, Glavin said, began as a $3 million appropriation from the Texas Legislature to upgrade the bridge over the Colorado River at Ballinger to allow rail shipment of wind turbine towers being manufactured at the Martifer plant in San Angelo.

The project expanded when the ARRA program started, getting money from the federal stimulus program along with $6 million from Texas Pacifico, money from the city of San Angelo and money from other federal programs for grade crossings in the city. The entire project cost slightly more than $25 million, Glavin said.

It brought the railway up to a 25 mph standard, and the operator, Texas Pacifico, will maintain it at that standard "in perpetuity," he said.

TxDOT will file an application Monday for another grant, Glavin said, for improvements from Sulphur Junction to Fort Stockton, which would cost about $14 million, he said.

"Beyond that, we're putting together a program from Fort Stockton to Alpine, about $43 million for that," Glavin said. "We're getting that ready in case more money comes down the pipe, and there's also the bridge at Presidio, re-establishing the connection to Mexico."

The cross-border rail bridge was closed after being damaged by fire nearly four years ago.

"There's a lot of interest in having that bridge rebuilt," Hammond said.

© 2011 Scripps Newspaper Group - Online

NOTE: The line that Texas-Pacifico operates is former Santa Fe, and was once part of the Kansas City, Mexico & Orient from, well, Kansas City to Topalobampo, Texico.