Oregon shippers form coalition to voice rail concerns

Oregon shippers form coalition to voice rail concerns Eighteen shippers and manufacturers in southwestern Oregon have formed an industry coalition in an attempt to gain more voice in decisions regarding their rail transportation needs, in response to recent railroad route closures within the state.
   According to the organizers, the purpose of the Coos-Siskiyou Shippers Coalition is to 'organize the shippers so that they can speak with one voice and to get a seat at the table where decisions are made that negatively impact economic interests in all of southwest Oregon,' said coalition President Allyn Ford in a statement. Ford is president and chief executive officer of Dillard-based Roseburg Forest Products, the largest shipper on COPR's Coos Bay and Siskiyou lines.
   Shippers in the region are still reeling from an abrupt September decision by Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad that closed a 120-mile rail link between Coos Bay and Eugene. The closure, enacted with 24-hour notice by the railroad has, according to the coalition, seriously affected four major employers in the area that relied on the route to move lumber, wood chips and bulk steel products.
   The closure led the Port of Coos Bay, the ultimate destination for much of the cargo shipped on the Coos Bay line, to file a $15 million lawsuit against COPR alleging the rail firm did not provide the legal 180-day public notice for the line closure. The railroad maintains that the closure was due to safety issues and needed to be done immediately.
   Officials from the Oregon Department of Transportation also said last month that COPR's nearly $8 million in potential state funding for new rail yard north of Roseburg could be at risk because of the Coos Bay line closure.
   Three weeks ago, COPR's parent firm RailAmerica — purchased by a Florida hedge fund earlier this year — said the Coos Bay lines would require $23 million in repairs to reopen.
   RailAmerica suggested that a five-member partnership of public and private entities, including the Port of Coos Bay, railroad giant Union Pacific, and the state of Oregon, pay for the repairs. The firm also wants the state to proffer up $10 million over five years to defray the $1.5 million a year that RailAmerica claims it loses on the line each year.
   U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., labeled the suggestions as 'extortion' by a 'group of super-rich hedge fund managers.'
   DeFazio, who also chairs a House Transportation Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, said that instead of turning to the taxpayers, the railroad should be forced to sell the line. Given the firm's assertion that it is losing $1.5 million a year on the line, “we could make them pay us to take it,” said DeFazio, or use eminent domain to seize the line.
   Oregon Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Rick Metzger, D-Welches, said that the Boca Raton, Fla.-based RailAmerica has expressed no interest in selling either the Coos Bay or Siskiyou lines.
   Metzger said the firm told his committee that the railroad is also looking to shutter the Siskiyou service, another vital rail link for area shippers that runs from Eugene to Weed, Calif., claiming the line is unprofitable.
   'I had interpreted that as they probably will' close it, Metzger added. ' Keith Higginbotham