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City officials have taken an important step to push for changes from the railroad company responsible for Portland’s worst traffic nightmare.
The city on June 12 filed a notice of intent to comment on a planned merger involving Union Pacific, the nation’s largest railroad in revenue and operator of three-mile-long freight trains that every day crawl through the Central Eastside, blocking crossings at SE 8th, 11th and 12th avenues, often for hours at a time.
If its merger with Norfolk Southern Railway wins federal approval, UP estimates train activity on the Central Eastside would increase by 22%.
The proposed $85 billion merger would be the largest ever in the history of the railroad industry, and create the country’s first coast-to-coast transcontinental railroad.
Backed by federal court decisions, railroads are largely free to block surface crossings in the U.S. But as WW reported last month, they are uniquely susceptible to public pressure during mergers, which require federal approval.
The Friday notice, filed by Jack Arriaga, the city’s federal relations manager, does not indicate what demands the city might place on UP. But the filing was pushed by City Councilor Steve Novick, who tells WW the train congestion at SE 8th, 11th and 12th avenues is “the most annoying damned thing in the entire city.”
Rail mergers in the U.S. are nowadays exceedingly rare. The last occurred in 1996 when Union Pacific merged with Southern Pacific.
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board—the authority overseeing the merger—will next examine whether the proposal would unbalance trade markets or otherwise hurt the public or environment. As a possible outcome, the feds could require UP to work out a settlement agreement with stakeholders on the Central Eastside including a timeline to mitigate impacts.
Opponents of the proposed merger include Katie Farmer, CEO of UP’s main rival, BNSF, who this month told The Financial Times the proposal would increase shipping rates nationwide and drive up inflation. (UP counters that having one railroad serve both coasts would actually lower costs through seamless connectivity.)
Three other local entities have also sought to comment—the Central Eastside Industrial Council, the Hosford-Abernethy Neighborhood District and the Brooklyn Action Corps.
Novick tells WW he agrees with WW’s reporting that the merger offers the city unusual leverage.
“Since I believe in competition, as an American, I hope the merger doesn’t happen. But if we can leverage that merger to end that annoyance it will be one of the greatest days in Portland history,” Novick writes to WW.
“We’d build a monument to the Surface Transportation Board. Name streets after its members. Ben Stark, after whom Stark Street is named, was pro-slavery and opposed public schools. Patrick J. Fuchs Street [for the current chair of the STB] has a nice ring to it, I think.”
