WASHINGTON — Federal regulators yesterday approved Union Pacific’s request to restore common-carrier service over 1.04 miles of rail line in Tooele County, Utah, that would connect to the proposed Savage Tooele Railroad.
The Surface Transportation Board decision also turned down BNSF Railway’s petition to begin a proceeding that would ensure that it can use its trackage rights over UP to interchange with the Savage Tooele Railroad.
“Granting UP the authority to reinstitute common carrier service over the Line does not preclude BNSF from seeking, through either arbitration or a new, separate Board proceeding, a determination that BNSF is entitled to access STR via the Line,” the STB said in its decision. “Moreover, granting UP common carrier operating authority over the Line will help avoid delay to STR’s project and ensure that its business park shippers are connected to the national rail network.”
UP in November sought permission to reinstitute common-carrier service over a 1.04-mile section of the abandoned Warner Branch. The connecting track would serve as a link between UP’s Shafter Subdivision and the Savage Tooele Railroad, which aims to revive the 6-mile Warner Branch, restore a quarter mile of ripped-up track, and build 5 miles of new track in the Lakeview Business Park, which is being built in Grantsville, southwest of Salt Lake City.
The board has yet to issue its decision regarding Savage Tooele’s proposal.
BNSF noted in December that it has trackage rights to operate over the Shafter Subdivision as well as the right to interchange with any new short line connecting to the line as a condition of the STB’s 1996 approval of the UP-Southern Pacific merger. BNSF says UP has structured the transaction with Savage Tooele to establish a 1-mile barrier between the Shafter Sub and Savage Tooele.
UP says there’s no legal basis for BNSF to access Savage Tooele.
