Kansas City Southern, via YouTube
Thursday midday rail news:
KCS, development firm to develop Wylie, Texas, logistics park
Kansas City Southern and NorthPoint Development have announced plans to develop a 220-acre logistics park in Wylie, Texas, adjacent to the railroads’ David L. Starling Wylie Intermodal Terminal. The Wylie Logistics Park, in a northeastern suburb of Dallas, will have the potential for 2.4 million square feet of warehouse space, with direct access to State Route 78 and the intermodal facility. Opened in 2015 and expanded in 2018, it features 19,000 feet of track capacity and annual lift capacity of 342,000 containers, as well as 1,800 wheeled parking spaces and 300 container stack spots. “The Wylie Logistics Park is ideal for customers looking to combine logistics and real estate in one location,” Rodrigo Flores, KCS vice president intermodal and automotive, said in a press release. “Locating in the park will provide tenants and customers significant cost savings by reducing drayage from ramp to facility and providing quick access to the regional interstate network.” An information video on the facility is available here.
British Columia community, site of planned CP logistics park, wants to raise taxes on railroad
The community of Pitt Meadows, British Columbia, is seeking to increase property taxes on Canadian Pacific facilities, a move that could bring in $1.1 million as the railroad seeks to build a new logistics facility in the community east of Vancouver. The website BC Local News reports that the increase would come if the railroad’s current rate as a Class 6 business — similar to medical and other offices — is change. “Typical businesses do not transport danger goods, interrupt traffic flow, generate noise 24 hours per day, seven days per week, impede emergency response, or pollute the environment,” Mayor Bill Dingwell said at a city council meeting this week. “It is more appropriate that railway activities be rated and taxed as Class 5 Light Industrial.” CP says that the addition of the logistics park would increase the railroad’s tax bill to the city to $4.1 million at current rates.
Somona-Marin Area Rail Transit chooses new board chairman
Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit’s board has elected Sonona County Supervisor David Rabbitt for a two-year term as its new board chairman, while electing Golden Gate Bridge District board member Barbara Pahre as vice chair for a fifth term. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reports the selections come as the agency plans a campaign to rebuilding system usage in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has seen daily ridership drop to 279 in December after a peak of more than 2,400 on weekdays in February 2020. SMART also faces the need to gain renewed approval for the sales tax funding that is currently set to end in 2029.
