The operator of the Coos Bay rail line is facing another challenge to its railroad system in Oregon.

The Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad already has the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay trying to thwart its abandonment of the Coos Bay line. Now a coalition of shippers has asked the federal government to take the CORP-operated Siskiyou Summit line and let two other railroad companies run it.

Several shippers, including Roseburg Forest Products, filed a petition for alternative rail service Tuesday with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board. They want East Texas and Lubbock Railroad, and Yreka Western Railroad to operate the 218-mile line from Ashland to Weed, Calif.

CORP suspended southbound service on the line in December and limited northbound traffic from five days a week to two. An increase in shipping rates of more than 300 percent forced most shippers to shift to truck transportation, the filing stated. Today, there is no traffic on the line, said Bob Ragon, spokesman for the Coos/Siskiyou Shippers Coalition. In the past, the line carried between 5,000 and 6,000 carloads a year, he said.

The shippers said that Yreka Western and West Texas and Lubbock have said they will be able to resume the northbound service, if given the chance.

Ragon said the STB should make a ruling on the petition within 45 days. He said a similar procedure was not available for the Coos Bay rail line, however, because of the safety concerns regarding its tunnels.

— Staff Writer Alexander Rich