WASHINGTON — The Surface Transportation Board’s Office of Environmental Analysis today issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Green Eagle Railroad’s proposed construction and operation of a 1.3-mile rail line and border crossing in Eagle Pass, Texas.
The draft reviews two potential routes for the line, which was proposed in December 2023, as well as a “no build” alternative.
Green Eagle Railroad, a subsidiary of Puerto Verde Holdings, aims to build a new 19.12-mile secure cross-border corridor that includes 1.335 miles of double track between Union Pacific’s Clark’s Park Yard and a new double-track span over the Rio Grande, followed by a 17.79-mile single-track line to Ferromex’s Rio Escondido Yard in Piedras Negras, Mexico [see “Second rail bridge proposed for Eagle Pass …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 15, 2023].
The corridor would be fenced, include customs processing facilities, and have no grade crossings because it would bypass the urban centers of Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras.
Green Eagle also seeks to divert UP and BNSF Railway trains off the existing bridge and onto its new corridor. UP and trackage rights tenant BNSF currently operate 15 to 18 trains across the border using the existing single-track span that was built in 1922.
The proposed new line is part of the larger Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge project that includes a new truck border crossing between Piedras Negras and Eagle Pass.
The Draft EIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts of both the proposed rail line, which requires licensing authority from the board, and the truck crossing because they would be built as a single port of entry for freight rail and truck traffic between Mexico and the United States.
The STB will be accepting comments on all aspects of the Draft EIS until the close of the comment period on May 5. The Office of Environmental Analysis will also hold three public meetings during the comment period to hear oral comments.
