Mayor: No Immediate Plans for Train Expansion
There are no immediate plans to expand the railroad in downtown Parkville, Mayor Gerry Richardson announced at Tuesday’s regular meeting of the Board of Aldermen.
In his mayor’s report, Richardson said he met with four representatives from Burlington Northern Santa Fe last week and was updated by the railroad operator on plans to expand from one to two tracks through downtown Parkville. Richardson said that they engaged in a “cordial discussion” regarding BNSF’s budget and expansion plans. The meeting was facilitated by Congressman Sam Graves, Richardson said.
Specifically, Richardson said that the current BNSF two-year budget does not call for the railroad to construct another track through Parkville. The company did, however, have “preliminary” plans to address the expansion issue before 2013.
Plans to construct the second track hit a snag after Parkville threatened legal action. The city disputed BNSF’s claim that they owned the right-of-way along the properties abutting the train track. After conducting their own investigation and survey, Parkville officials said that BNSF did not have the right-of-way and would have to negotiate with the city. BNSF had planned to construct the second track in 2008, then pushed the date back to 2009. Now it appears the company will wait a little longer.
Of particular concern to city officials and Parkville residents was the possible loss of park land in English Landing Park. Preliminary plans for track expansion have BNSF installing a second line to the south of existing tracks. Such a move would shave off an estimated 20-feet of park land for the entire length of the park.
Richardson said that he was left convinced that the city could implement a “quiet zone” through downtown Parkville within the next year, but that there were still several things to investigate regarding the matter.
Quiet Zones would be achieved by installing automated horns at the crossings downtown. By law, train engineers must blow their horns multiple times at every crossing. With the automated horns, they are not required to do so. The automated horns do not blow as long or as hard as the train horns.
Voters approved a capital improvement bond issue in 2004. Included in the bond program is $165,000 allotted to three way-side or automated horns to be installed at the Main, East Street and Ball Enterprises crossings. The latter is identified as a private crossing and so is not now involved with the city.
The automated horn “final rule” was established in 2005, but an “amended final rule” dated Aug. 17, 2006 accomplishes Parkville’s desire to establish a “quiet zone” but that, too, has its problems. Until the Federal Railroad Administration published its final rule and the final rule governing automated train horn did not come about until June 24, 2005, the city could not install the horns earlier. The second track issue was not confirmed to the city by the railroad until Aug. 12, 2005.
Who will pay for the horns remains a question. If the city paid for the horns at East and Main crossings now, the railroad has not officially offered to reimburse the city or to pay to re-locate installed train horns when the second track is built. Currently, Parkville has a cash reserve of more than $500,000.
“Parkville is as focused as ever about setting up quiet zones on Main and East Street,” Richardson said.
Nancy Jack contributed to this story.