Funds in danger for $202-million rail project

Railroad and local transportation officials have less than two days to save a $202-million train overpass proposed in Colton, Calif., but have not announced any breakthroughs and remain guarded regarding if an acceptable deal can be reached, The Press-Enterprise reports.

Union Pacific and BNSF
officials must come to terms with San Bernardino and Southern California
officials about how the project benefits the public. Then, the Colton Crossing
overpass separating the two companies’ tracks south of Interstate 10 can start
construction in September 2011. If not, $97.3 million in state money will be
spent elsewhere in Southern California, and $33.8 million in federal stimulus
funds will go back to Washington and probably never return to California.

"We don’t want that
to happen," said Larry Sharp, past chairman of Inland Action, a collection
of business officials who have pressed for regional transportation
improvements.

So local and railroad
officials are negotiating a series of additional concessions so the public can
get more benefit from the project, including possibly more commuter trains, new
road overpasses and help with other local construction projects. If they can
reach agreement, then a commission that doles out California’s transportation
dollars can sign off, allowing both state and federal money to flow.

The proposed crossing
would raise the east-west Union Pacific tracks parallel to I-10 above the BNSF
tracks that run north-south. The overpass would allow trains to flow freely, as
opposed to the waits common at the crossing as other locomotives pass. Combined,
the two railroads have committed $66.8 million of the total cost, with state
and federal coffers contributing the rest. No local money from Riverside or San
Bernardino counties is included in the project’s budget.

Sharp, who is not a part
of the Colton Crossing discussions, said officials with San Bernardino
Associated Governments must negotiate a deal with the railroads that benefits
everyone.

"Although we all
want to create those jobs locally and we want to get the work done, I think we
have to be very careful at the same time we are not agreeing to something that
is going to put a big bill on the backs of the public," Sharp said.

After years of
discussions, the last three days have been a flurry of negotiations and
conference calls, officials close to the talks said. SANBAG officials are
scheduled to discuss the final agreement, if reached, this morning, said agency
spokeswoman Jane Dreher.

A state transportation
commission that previously rejected a deal between local and railroad officials
will then have to approve it on April 8, or else the project hangs in limbo and
millions of dollars are lost. As of April 6, officials said they were still
working on the terms of a written agreement necessary to get the state money,
part of a transportation bond voters approved in 2006.

"It is right down to
the gun," Dreher said.

Union Pacific officials
would not discuss the talks, and would only confirm they were ongoing, company
spokesman Aaron Hunt said.

The sticking point that
has complicated discussions for months is how the public benefits from the
railroad overpass. Untying the crossing will keep trains from idling in Colton,
giving the region some air-quality benefit. The project is also estimated to create
hundreds of jobs, peaking with about 440 construction and management jobs in
2012, state and railroad officials said.

But the project provides
little relief for the driving public, local officials have complained in the
past. For $131 million of public investment, the project doesn’t substantially
reduce traffic congestion, and officials have said they could build numerous
overpasses on city streets with the money.

The lack of a more
defined public benefit led the California Transportation Commission last month
to reject an earlier proposal between railroad and transportation officials,
setting the hastily called discussions of the past two weeks in motion. State
transportation officials gave local and railroad leaders until Thursday to come
back with a revised agreement.

Based on an unfinished
contract included in the SANBAG agenda for this morning, many details are
unresolved. A separate local deal with Colton city officials, county
transportation planners and railroads remains the same as a previous agreement,
passed by the SANBAG board.

Union Pacific will also
abandon a bridge spanning Interstate 215, which will make widening the freeway
cheaper if transportation officials do not have to pay to replace the bridge,
said Garry Cohoe, director of freeway construction for SANBAG. Lowering the
cost of the road repairs has some public benefit, Cohoe said last month.

One of the most
sought-after additional concessions local officials want is more access to
freight tracks for commuter trains. Colton Crossing limits the movement of
trains in and out of the Inland area, and local leaders said any ability to
increase movement through the crossing should also benefit rail commuters.

The unfinished agreement
states the overpass project "may provide" for adding Metrolink trains
to the schedule, once the project is complete. Officials are still negotiating
the terms of how that availability will be calculated.

Officials only have hours
left to come to agreement, or the funding collapses. Both the state and federal
dollars are needed, but the railroads cannot receive one without the other. The
state transportation commission needs to approve the state money this week, so
another request for the money can be submitted to federal officials by a May 15
deadline.

"It is a lot of
pressure on the folks involved," Sharp said.

Not building the project
and letting the plans stagnate on a shelf will be a double whammy for the
region, he said.

"One, we won’t have
the jobs and two, we’ll still have the issue at the crossing," Sharp said.