The Coos Bay rail yard is empty after the last train and all rail cars, loaded and empty, were moved out of the area. The rail line has been closed for a month now. - World Photo by Lou Sennick

Just do it.

No, Nike Inc. officials weren’t speaking at the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., Tuesday. Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith was.

The Republican was seeking a solution to the month-old closure of the Coos Bay rail line. The Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad shut down the line with one-day’s notice in late September, citing unsafe tunnel conditions. “Do it, just do something,” seemed to be the emphatic message the senator uttered to Charles “Chip” Nottingham, the chairman of the Surface Transportation Board.

“Anything, anything you can do to put the spurs in these folks. A lot of people are counting on that,” Smith said. “I would appreciate anything and everything you can do and as soon as you can do it.”

The mediator

The agency is charged with resolving railroad service disputes. And this one has left local sawmills and other manufacturers without easy access to rail. The short line closure also ignited a controversy from Coos Bay to Washington, D.C., as the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay works to persuade APM Terminals North America, the U.S. operating division of A.P. Moeller Maersk, to build a shipping container facility here.

Sen. Smith’s comment followed several minutes of back and forth. He asked Nottingham whether he felt it was his agency’s job to make sure railroads invest in and maintain infrastructure to prevent these types of situations.

“A railroad has the responsibility to keep its rail lines open and running effectively for its customers — or it has an obligation to abandon and make room for someone else,” Nottingham responded.

That, he said, is what his agency will look at.

“Will the railroad step up and put forward a prompt repair schedule for that line; and if not, will it be abandoning and allowing other carriers?” Nottingham said.

Waiting to exhale

Local, state and federal officials seem to be holding their breaths. All say they are waiting to read the results from the Federal Railroad Administration on the rail line’s condition after inspectors scrutinized the problem tunnels earlier this month.

Initially, CORP refused to release the engineering report on tunnel conditions that officials said prompted them to close the rail line. And, neither CORP nor its parent company, Florida-based RailAmerica, has released a timeline for upgrading the tunnels or re-opening the line.

On Monday, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay sued the railroad in federal court, complaining the one-day closure notice violated two lease agreements.

On Wednesday, RailAmerica’s public relations firm sent out a copy of the July 16 tunnel inventory report and a copy of a Sept. 21 letter again summarizing the report findings. (See sidebar)

The conclusions

The July report from the geotechnical consulting firm Shannon & Wilson Inc. was based on tunnel assessments done predominantly March 26-30.

The report concluded that tunnel stability problems in three tunnels are due to “intensely deteriorated and rotted condition of timber in timber-lined sections.”

The September letter said water seepage this rainy season makes it impossible and hazardous to apply shotcrete. (In tunnel construction, crews can spray the concrete over framing structure to support the walls and ceilings.)

“Consequently, it may not be safe for much of the repair work to be undertaken until the drier months of next spring and summer,” said the letter from Robert A. Robinson, the director of underground services in the company’s Seattle office.

As to the cost, the report pegged immediate repairs to counter high risk of rockfall in three tunnels at almost $2.9 million. Upgrades over five years were estimated at $3.8 million.

RailAmerica officials have said that kind of investment would require public money. State and local officials have balked at that, suggesting track maintenance is the cost of doing business.

But, it’s logical to wonder whether the railroad considers the investment worth it.

The container factor

CORP officials said in October 2006 that the track, tunnel and bridge conditions and configurations on the Coos Bay line would need to be upgraded should the port build a container terminal. The current railroad can’t fit double-stacked, articulating deep-well inter-model cars through existing tunnel entrances, railroad officials said in October 2006.

At the time, CORP’s then-general manager Steve Hefley said several S-curves would need straightening. The road bed would need work, including new rail and ties. There would need to be bigger switches, and a signal system, along with probably 12 sidings for opposing trains to pass, for a facility that ultimately would pour out 2 million containers annually. He estimated rail construction work would take two years.

As to the cost, Hefley wouldn’t go on record with a dollar figure. He did say there are federal and state grants and loans for these projects, in addition to private investment.

The port’s Executive Director Jeffrey Bishop said then that there are two things that must be proved feasibile for the project to go or not to go. First: Is the infrastructure in place to handle the vessels? Second: Is the rail in place to handle the vessels?

The port is confidently working through the land-use and federal approval process to enlarge the shipping channel and build a terminal. As to the railroad, Sen. Smith on Wednesday talked more about the short term. It will re-open, he said.

“They’re either going to fix it, or they’re going to lose it.”

— City Editor Elise Hamner covers the Port of Coos Bay. She can be reached by calling 269-1222, ext. 239; or by e-mailing ehamner@theworldlink.com.