UP to clean up Tracy rail site
Class I railroad Union Pacific will pay to clean up toxic waste from several acres of property in Tracy's Bow Tie area before transferring the parcel to the city. City planners want the two-block long rail property as the site for a proposed multi-million dollar train and bus terminal.
According to city officials, if the railroad completes the clean up of lead- and arsenic-tainted soil on the site before spring, construction of the city's so-called 'multimodal station' could begin by June or July.
The contamination, from lead paint, oil and fuel seepage of rail equipment, is typical of old rail routes. In addition, Southern Pacific operated a maintenance shop on the site for more than 50 years, with welding and repair waste seeping into the soil.
The city has been planning the $8.3 million transportation station for more than seven years and has already spent more than $2 million on the design, site testing and consulting phases of the project. A county transportation tax and state grants are paying the $12 million for the entire site project which includes the transportation station. The entire project, said city officials, is scheduled for completion in 2010.
