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MOTRAN: Teamwork needed to improve local rail service
by Courtney Bacalso
Midland Reporter-Telegram
For an improved local railway system to be viable, the development corporations in Midland and Odessa should combine their resources, Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance (MOTRAN) officials said Friday.
MOTRAN President James Beauchamp presented several studies to the Midland Development Corp. including a rail study that had also been presented to the rail committee earlier this week.
"Ector and Midland counties have significant rail loads but not enough to justify what we are looking at overall," Beauchamp said. "We are at the bottom of the barrel. But we are at the top of the heap in truck traffic."
Recently, the Midland Development Corp.'s recruiting efforts had been trumped by that of San Angelo and another city because of the lack of railway service, officials said.
Coupled with rising fuel costs, some officials said it may be viable to look toward improving local rail service.
While studies have been completed to build a north-south railway connecting Seagraves and McCamey, a recent MOTRAN study showed that would be too expensive - $3.8 million a mile, officials said.
Beauchamp said a more feasible option would be to build a spur track, a short branch leading from the main track and connected at one end only. A conservative estimate for a 1.5- to 2-mile industrial spur is $2.5 million, Beauchamp said.
"Midland's rail load is 4 percent while Odessa's at 5 percent," Beauchamp said. "If you try to do one for each city, it's just not viable."
Beauchamp said the challenge is to get Union Pacific Railways onboard.
"They want a consistent service that can be worked from their working train," Beauchamp said. "We have to identify local businesses who would use this and provide specific number of usage. There are companies interested but getting them to commit is the problem."
The development corporations' role, Beauchamp said, would be to talk to local businesses that already exist in the area to see if a project like this would even be needed.
Rising gas prices may force some companies to consider rail service for long hauls. Rail cost is about 3 cents a pound per mile while trucking costs is upwards of 10 cents a pound per mile, Beauchamp said.
Several possible areas locally have already been identified by MOTRAN, officials said.
Courtney Bacalso can be reached at c.bacalso@mrt.com.
MOTRAN President James Beauchamp presented several studies to the Midland Development Corp. including a rail study that had also been presented to the rail committee earlier this week.
"Ector and Midland counties have significant rail loads but not enough to justify what we are looking at overall," Beauchamp said. "We are at the bottom of the barrel. But we are at the top of the heap in truck traffic."
Recently, the Midland Development Corp.'s recruiting efforts had been trumped by that of San Angelo and another city because of the lack of railway service, officials said.
Coupled with rising fuel costs, some officials said it may be viable to look toward improving local rail service.
While studies have been completed to build a north-south railway connecting Seagraves and McCamey, a recent MOTRAN study showed that would be too expensive - $3.8 million a mile, officials said.
Beauchamp said a more feasible option would be to build a spur track, a short branch leading from the main track and connected at one end only. A conservative estimate for a 1.5- to 2-mile industrial spur is $2.5 million, Beauchamp said.
"Midland's rail load is 4 percent while Odessa's at 5 percent," Beauchamp said. "If you try to do one for each city, it's just not viable."
Beauchamp said the challenge is to get Union Pacific Railways onboard.
"They want a consistent service that can be worked from their working train," Beauchamp said. "We have to identify local businesses who would use this and provide specific number of usage. There are companies interested but getting them to commit is the problem."
The development corporations' role, Beauchamp said, would be to talk to local businesses that already exist in the area to see if a project like this would even be needed.
Rising gas prices may force some companies to consider rail service for long hauls. Rail cost is about 3 cents a pound per mile while trucking costs is upwards of 10 cents a pound per mile, Beauchamp said.
Several possible areas locally have already been identified by MOTRAN, officials said.
Courtney Bacalso can be reached at c.bacalso@mrt.com.
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