The Uinta Basin Railway would connect South Myton Bench and Leland Bench, Utah with the Union Pacific’s Provo Subdivision over Soldier Summit, a distance of about 80 miles. The project dates back to 2012 when the U.S. Department of Transportation began studying a new rail line to reach the basin’s natural resources, specifically oil. The project has been enthusiastically supported by a number of local governments, which have formed a group called the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition.
The environmental assessment would help the government and backers of the project determine where the rail line could be built with the least amount of impact to the landscape, wildlife, and local communities. A 2013 assessment by HDR Engineering, Inc. found that the most likely route would require multiple bridges and tunnels and would have a ruling grade of 2.4 percent.
A 45-day public comment period on the draft assessment began on June 19 and will include public meetings in July in Ft Duchesne, Price, Roosevelt, and Salt Lake City, Utah and Craig, Colo.
The draft version of the environmental impact study can be viewed online: http://uintabasinrailwayeis.com
There are trillion barrels of oil there that can be obtained by microwave heating and brought up with steam and the water saved whereby the oil needs transportation to export. It is not the kind of oil that flows well in a pipeline.
Excellent website. A lot of decisions to make. Unfortunately, a lot of palms to grease too.
I wonder why they didn’t consider the general route of the former Uintah Railway. A 2.4 mile tunnel from just past Atchee to Evacuation Creek would avoid the steep grades and sharp curves over Baxter Pass and keep it to the same 2.4% or less.
One of the major reasons for doing this is to eliminate the long haul heavy tankers that must now ply narrow US 40 to Salt Lake City from the Uintah Basin. It is the only major road into the basin to and from SLC and big trucks mixing with cars is not a good combination. A train route out of the basin would not only help the drillers and oil transporters but would be a boon to UB economy as well as currently everything has to be hauled in by truck and there are times during the winter months when that is almost impossible. Electrifying the line using power generated at the Bonanza Power Plant near Vernal, UT, at least for the main line portion of the railroad, would also provide a way to lower pollution in the UB which is subjects to inversions and bad air in the wintertime.
Each of the routes has its positives and negatives. The key will be finding the one that is most economical.
Timothy
Rail is not cheapest option to move crude, but it has a few things over pipelines one being flexibility. It’s also easier to clean up rail spill of crude compared to a pipeline
2.4% ruling grade..well that right there will make the line expensive to operate, for the cost it will require to build this line. They might as well complete the Salt Lake & Denver Railroad from Craig CO to Provo UT…
Take a look at the link at the bottom of the article and then go to Project Map. You can see there are three routes being considered, including a Craig Branch option. Go to Project Overview and there is a description of each route. The Craig option is much longer and would require a bridge over the Green River but does not appear to have difficult grades or curvature. It would also not require approval for going through a National Forest or Indian Reservation.
@Braden Kayganich: Except for a couple of closed tunnels, you can drive an SUV over the original Rollins Pass route of the Denver & Salt Lake that the Moffatt Tunnel replaced. But I would be careful on the season, I have heard of people getting stuck up there in certain places. East of the divide its Rollins Pass Road. West of the divide its Corona Pass road.
Mr. Ekren, I’ll let you in on a secret; Nearly every oil and gas field out there is “fracking territory” to some degree. Fracturing is a widely used process, not limited to the popularly known locations mentioned in the media. That being said I absolutely agree with you on why a pipeline wouldn’t be considered. I’m guessing the coalition behind this is looking for a justify rail into the area.
Personally I find the Craig connection most interesting. Since it is to tie in with the DRS, could the branch be all electrified? I’m sure it be promoted as “clean”. Never mind that the electric would come from the local coal fired plants…
Would anyone know why a pipeline is not being pursued? Or would this be fracking territory to get sufficient amount of oil out of ground to be economically feasible and therefore you would have sand in and oil out? Rail is not the most economic way to move oil to market/refineries so trying to understanding the investment in rail.
Thanks for you input, Charles. The reason I ask that about that however, is that Craig branch receives a lot of sand. (Not an expert on the area, been there for work, and observing Google) Not that much activity around Craig itself, so I believe most of it is transloaded for use in the Unita. If that’s the case then I’m afraid it would very much affect the Craig branch.
Bradley, this line would be 150 miles west of Craig and would run probably southwest from Myton/Leland and connect to another UP branch near East Carbon, UT. So it would not affect the Craig Branch at all.
Interesting, but quite a project. Two thoughts: One is that a major infrastructure project for oil is sketchy. I’ve seen a bunch of sure things for oil turn out to be worthless all too soon. “In basin sand mines” and pipelines can, and are, replacing rail traffic all over the patch. Second is how much traffic would this siphon off the Craig CO branch? Would it simply replace one branch with another one?