Planned US-Mexico rail route advances with environmental report

The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis has issued its final Environmental Impact Statement for the Green Eagle Railroad, a 1.3-mile line that would be part of a new 19-mile rail route and bridge connecting Eagle Pass, Texas, and Piedras Negas, Mexico.

The Green Eagle Railroad would be part of a secure corridor for BNSF and Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) traffic, including a new double-track bridge across the Rio Grande.

The report addresses two route alternatives, the Southern and Northern rail alternatives, and recommends mitigation action in three areas: Sound barriers on bridges to address noise; archaeological surveys and monitoring of construction sites to address possible archaeological deposits; and measures to protect potential threatened or endangered species and migratory birds.

A preliminary report had been released in March. The final report was developed after a comment period that included 104 written or verbal submissions from 92 commenters; the final report says none of those comments “required additional analysis or substantive changes to the text of the draft EIS.”