Union Pacific sheds light on Mexican port involvement

Union Pacific sheds light on Mexican port involvement Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific is shedding new light on the firm's involvement in a Mexican seaport project that could compete directly with U.S. West Coast ports.
   Union Pacific said plans for the Punta Colonet project are still under development, but that it has started acquiring options to buy property for the U.S. portion of a 200-mile spur that container trains could travel between UP's east-west 'Sunset Route' main line near Yuma, Calif., and the proposed Baja California seaport 150 miles south of San Diego.
   UP is upgrading the Sunset Route, adding a second track through Arizona to increase its capacity to move trains. The Sunset Route main line runs from Louisiana to California.
   The U.S. portion of the proposed new line would need up to 30 miles of track in a largely agricultural area of Yuma County near the intersection of the California, Arizona and Mexico borders.
   The contemplated new line, according to UP, would require taking some farmland. Local critics of the plan fear that trains traveling the route would disrupt nearby agricultural operations and pose environmental and safety risks.
   The railroad expects the Mexican government to solicit proposals for Punta Colonet this spring and to pick successful bidders later this year, with port operations starting in 2012.
   As part of their proposal, UP would build the necessary rail connection on the U.S. side of the border. A company in Mexico would have to construct the longer portion of the line that would run from Punta Colonet to the U.S. border.
   UP declined to provide specifics about property options being acquired in the Yuma area, the company's potential partners in the Punta Colonet project group or a total price tag.
   The decision to have the spur connect the main line in Arizona and not further west in California, according to UP, was based on having the connection east of the railroad's bridge over the Colorado River.
   The railroad estimates it initially would run six trains daily on the new line if it is built. The Sunset Route's daily average is currently 45 trains daily.
   Differing versions of the Punta Colonet port plan have ranged in cost from $1 billion to $9 billion and varied in scale from smaller than the Port of San Diego to as large as the Port of Los Angeles and Port of Long Beach combined. A Mexican rival to the dominant U.S. West Coast Southern California ports has raised concerns in the American shipping industry about a major shift of cargo south of the U.S./Mexican border.