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Project Title & Location
Tacoma Rail and Puget Sound and Pacific RR/Centralia - Reconfigure Rail - Phase 1A, Centralia, WA
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Project Description
Upgrades rail track and installs a new railroad switch and signaling to improve train movement and reduce rail congestion. The project will also reduce vehicle and pedestrian delays caused by trains entering and exiting the BNSF main line.
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Recent Progress
In August 2006 Tacoma Rail indicated that they were prepared to accept the terms of the draft WSDOT contract to manage construction of a realignment of the curve connecting the BNSF main line to the Puget Sound and Pacific (PSAP) line at Centralia, and a new connection between Tacoma Rail and PSAP at Blakeslee Junction. The contract includes a commitment by Tacoma Rail to abandon 28,000 feet of track from Blakeslee Junction south, if further funds become available to replace the storage track in another location.
Tacoma Rail signed the contract with WSDOT in January 2007. Since this date, an agreement has been sought between the railroads. BNSF and Tacoma Rail presented a new proposal in October 2007. In this proposal they said that to provide the advantage of faster speeds at the junction, with the main line in Centralia, they would need to completely remodel the junction. This would entail the acquisition of 1.86 acres of right-of-way (ROW) including nine parcels of land and five residences, whereas the Consensus Plan required no property acquisitions. It would also require the relocation of tracks within Centralia Yard. The effect of this would be an estimated cost increase from $7.4 million to $11.9 million and an overall inflation increase to all the phases of a further $3.3 million.
The two railroads said that the plans would not be acceptable to them both if these new changes were not incorporated in the proposal. BNSF withdrew their earlier request for the advancing of the second phase ahead of this one (1A and 1B) with this new proposal now agreed with the other railroads.
At a meeting held between WSDOT and BNSF in February 2008, BNSF stated the costs for Phase 1A had increased to $16.65 million. This was because some of the earlier estimates assumed PSAP would carry out the work at lower pay rates and that the project would not include the ROW purchase now being requested.
The legislature also re-aged the funding for the project, placing nearly all the remaining $7.1 million into the 09-11 biennium. As a result, no further work will occur on the project in the 07-09 bienniun.
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Environmental Impacts / Compliance
Environmental impacts are not known at this time.
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Impacts to Traffic
The project should minimize delays to road traffic in Centralia. It will also improve the speeds of rail traffic, both on the line where the changes are being made and also on the BNSF main line.
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