Railroads
Regional Rail Initiatives
MOTRAN and the La Entrada al Pacifico Rural Rail Transportation District (LEAP) continue to work together on several items concerning local rail service. This year, both groups have joined with TXDOT and communities from West Texas and the Panhandle to form the West Texas Freight Rail Study Group and are currently working with consultants on a study of current demands and constraints within the West Texas freight system, as well as areas that need to be improved to ensure continued service for the future.
In addition, MOTRAN and LEAP are leading the effort to study the economic feasibility of a north-south line connecting the Midland-Odessa area to other area rail systems and intermodal facilities to provide competitive service and increased rail shipping opportunities for current businesses and future economic prospects.
Rehabilitation of the South Orient Line
The Texas Legislative Session saw the first contribution by the State of Texas to the improvement of the state owned asset.
Representative Drew Darby (R-San Angelo) was responsible for a $3 million appropriation request towards improvement of the line. The appropriation request, along with $14 million in stimulus funds, and another $1 million in federal funds from 2005, will provide $18 million in public funds to the project.
The stimulus funds available for the project were scheduled in two lettings. One portion for the reconstruction of the Ballinger Bridge is estimated at $3,900,000 and the other for rehabilitation of the actual line from the San Angelo junction to San Angelo was estimated at $11,100,000. The rehabilitation of this segment of the South Orient Line came in at $5,778,194, providing a cost savings of $5,971,806 that could potentially be used on other segments of the line.
In addition, MOTRAN has worked with Texas Pacifico to bring private resources to the project as well. Texas Pacifico has added $4.5 million in private funds to the project for a total of nearly $23 million in funding to rehab the line from San Angelo to the San Angelo junction and rebuild the bridge at Ballinger to help the line facilitate wind towers to be shipped by rail from the new Martifer plant in San Angelo. In addition, Texas Pacifico has also agreed to replace the bridge at the Presidio/Ojinaga border which was destroyed by vandals.
TXDOT also submitted a United States Department of Transportation TIGER Grant for additional funding to rehabilitate the section of the line from San Angelo to Ft. Stockton in September.
