Boomer on Trainorders first posted this...

From 12/04, courtesy of the Elko Daily Free Press...

"RAILWAY RENOVATION"

-Project could restore freight service from Elko County to Ely-

Northeastern Nevada residents and businesses could benefit from a proposal to purchase and renovate railroad tracks spanning the length of the Steptoe and Goshute valleys.

White Pine County, the White Pine Historical Railroad Foundation and the City of Ely have joined forces to develop funding and arrange the purchase of 120 miles of Nevada Northern Railroad tracks between McGill Junction and Cobre, a former train depot southeast of Montello.

Elko County Commissioners were to consider offering their political support to the group's efforts during their regular meeting today.

Project proponents say the restored railway, which connects with the Union Pacific mainline, would provide much-needed commercial freight service to Ely and McGill. In addition, it could improve opportunities for tourist excursions from East Ely to Cherry Creek and other historic towns in White Pine and Elko counties.

Restored freight service could generate $1 billion in investments and up to 170 new jobs in White Pine County and the neighboring Duckwater Reservation in Northern Nye County, said Karen Rajala, White Pine County Economic Diversification Council coordinator. Communities in Elko County also stand to benefit from renewed rail service, she said.

Existing local businesses, including the Foreland Corp., would realize a major savings in rail shipping costs. Foreland, the only refinery in Nevada that has the capacity to produce asphalt, could use the railway to import crude oil at much cheaper rates.

Renewed freight service could also lure a metal fabrication firm to McGill and improve the potential for a coal-fired power plant in the northern Steptoe Valley.

Preliminary studies found that the existing customer base, combined with increased use by the oil industry, would support routine operation and maintenance costs, as well as ongoing track improvements.

In order to proceed with the purchase and renovation, proponents need $500,000 in state funding to match a requested $1 million grant from the US Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration.

After two years of negotiations, railway owner Los Angeles Department of Water and Power agreed to a purchase price of $700,000, well under the estimated value of $1.6 million.

Initial engineering studies call for renovating the tracks between Cherry Creek and Shafter to Class I standards, which would cost an estimated $81 million. The tracks between Cherry Creek and McGill Junction, which are considered to be in poorer condition, would be improved over a longer period of time.

The Nevada Northern Railroad has been called one of the nation's best-preserved operating short-lines.

During its heyday in the early 1900s, the rail-line offered passengers twice-weekly Pullman service to Oakland, California and Ogden, Utah. But the line's commercial viability waned as the automobile became the preferred mode of transportation. After years of decreasing ridership, regular passenger service between Ely and Cobre was discontinued in 1941.

The LA water department purchased the tracks from Kennecott in the mid-1980s as part of the White Pine Power Project. After the project was abandoned in the mid-1990s, Broken Hill Proprietary Co. leased the tracks until 1999