Western Railroad Discussion > SERA Santa Cruz Lease to Proceed

Two filings on today's(12/28) Surface Transportation Board website point to Sierra Northern moving forward to begin operations on Union Pacific's Santa Cruz(CA) Industrial Lead on 12/31. Cemex has withdrawn their petition to stay the lease with SERA also revealing more information on upcoming plans. SERA has communicated to Cemex the priority that will be given to freight operations and acknowledges that, due to the excepted class status of the track, proposed dinner train operations are 1 to 3 years away.

SERA will receive $100,000 in tax credits if the lease becomes effective 12/31 and Cemex does not want to threaten that with a delay. Cemex also notified SERA that they have 79 leased hoppers stored at Davenport that they plan to move to Victorville, CA in the first quarter of 2010.

SERA48 is seen arriving at Watsonville Jct. off the Santa Cruz Branch with two empty centerbeams from ProBuild Lumber.......just kidding. Photo taken at Riverbank, CA this past September. UP has already delivered the 48 to Watsonville Jct. arriving in the early morning hours of 12/27. The Santa Cruz Sentinel finally caught on to this story on 12/24:

NEW RAILROAD COMPANY TO TAKE OVER UP LINE
By Kurtis Alexander
Posted: 12/24/2009 01:30:18 AM PST

SANTA CRUZ -- The Union Pacific Railroad, which has long wanted to end its affairs in Santa Cruz County, plans to hand over freight and maintenance responsibilities on its 32-mile county line to a smaller California-based rail company.

On Dec. 31, Sierra Northern Railway will assume a lease for the county rail line, a representative of the Woodland-based company said this week. The private business shortly thereafter will begin using its locomotives, instead of Union Pacific's, to haul what limited freight moves on the local line.

The transfer of operations comes as Omaha-based Union Pacific is in negotiations to sell the coastal rail line between Davenport and Watsonville to the county's transportation agency. Union Pacific officials declined to comment Wednesday on the Sierra Northern lease and how it would affect the sale of the railroad to the county.

But county transportation leaders, who are looking to build a recreational trail along the tracks as well as continue freight service there, praised the selection of a new rail operator as a step toward removing Union Pacific from the picture.

"This works well for everybody," said county Supervisor John Leopold, who sits on the county Regional Transportation Commission and has been involved in the county's closed-door negotiations to buy the rail ine.

Transportation Commission staff said Wednesday the agency hopes to buy the line by March, pushed back from earlier expectations that the rail would be in public ownership by the new year.

Luis Mendez, deputy director of the Transportation Commission, said Sierra Northern would likely continue to haul freight under county ownership of the line. County transportation leaders do not wish to manage freight operations, though a deal with the new short-line operator has yet to be reached, Mendez said.

Sierra Northern currently manages freight operations on 133 miles of railroad, almost all of it in California. Its parent company, Sierra Railroad, also runs tourist trains like the Skunk Train in Mendocino County.

"We've been looking at that line in Santa Cruz for a number of years," said company President Dave Magaw. "There's a lot of sense in doing this freight deal. We're local. We have operations in California. ... Adding a Santa Cruz operation is pretty easy for us to do."

Unlike Union Pacific, whose business is hauling freight long distances, Sierra Northern specializes in short trips. Though the amount of freight moved on the county line has dwindled in recent years -- now a handful of produce companies in Watsonville and lumber companies in Santa Cruz -- Magaw said he thinks hauling here is still a worthwhile venture.

"We think there's prospects for other business," he said. "It's possible that the Cemex plant in Davenport will come back on line, too."

Sierra Northern, under terms of its contract with Union Pacific, will be responsible for moving all freight in Santa Cruz County and passing it off to Union Pacific trains in Watsonville.

The operator's parent company would also be interested in running tourist trains on the line, Magaw said. Though, he noted, that would be subject to future discussions with the county and Roaring Camp Railroads, a local tourist train operator.

Magaw also said Wednesday his company was supportive of the county's efforts to build a pedestrian and bicycle trail along the tracks, a proposition that has scared off other railroad companies because of the safety issues.

"That's something that's very workable along with running the railroad, which is our priority business," he said.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/28/09 23:05 by shed47.

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Good job Dave, hope it works out for the SERA.

I wonder if Roaring Camp was offered the opportunity to bid on the lease? They would have been a more logical operator as they already operate trains on a portion of the branch and do carry a little freight to a nearby lumber yard.

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com