East Texas

By BETTY WATERS
Staff Writer

HENDERSON — Worried that the only railroad track into Henderson might close, possibly dealing a huge blow to Rusk County’s economic development, leaders here are mounting a drive to protect and revitalize the line.

The board of Rusk County Rural Rail Transportation District, a new entity created by Rusk County Commissioners Court, hopes to negotiate with Union Pacific Railroad on the future of the short track between Henderson and Overton.

The line, about 15 miles long, connects in Overton to a track running from Longview to Overton and south to Jacksonville and Palestine.

The board is planning a breakfast to include approximately 250 representatives of business and industry, politicians and others interested in rail transportation and form a coalition to keep the rail vibrant.

The breakfast is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. Sept. 18 in the Henderson Community Center.

The rail district board is waiting to hear from Union Pacific.

“We’ve sent them a formal resolution (asking them) to sit down and negotiate and let us know what their plans are (for the Henderson-Overton track). They’ve sent us back a response saying they will check their calendar,” said John Cloutier, board president.

“Many things could come out of our negotiations with Union Pacific — they could decide to repair the rail, they could decide to offer abandonment and scrap it, they could decide to sell the rail to another entity and let the entity operate it,” Cloutier said.

“Of course out of all those, the one thing we don’t want to see is that rail torn up and scrapped. We want to see trains running up and down that track bringing product and material and resources into Rusk County … so we are going to work really hard to make sure they see our viability and we are going to hopefully walk away (from the negotiating table) with an understanding we are going to keep that rail active and vibrant.”

Union Pacific officials could not be reached by the Tyler Paper for comment.

“Union Pacific has been a great partner for this community for a long, long time, so it would be arrogant of us to start pounding on the table and say we need this and that,” Cloutier said.

Sue Henderson, vice president of the rail district and general manager of Henderson Economic Development Corp., said the district could buy the line, hire an operator and maintain access.

“We can’t let Henderson be cut off from rail service,” she said.

Availability of rail service is crucial to HEDCO’s efforts to attract business and industry. Without rail service, HEDCO is not qualified to respond to new business and industry leads through the governor’s office that require rail service, Ms. Henderson said.

“With the economy being what it is with gas prices being what they are, rail is going to become more and more important than it’s ever been before,” the economic development manager predicted.

Rail freight transportation is receiving renewed interest because one rail car is equivalent to four trucks.

“We can’t be any different in Rusk County,” Cloutier said. “It doesn’t take a genius to figure out when diesel gets to $4 a gallon that freight rail is going to be important.”

Cloutier added, “When I was a child, they used to tell us rail was a dinosaur that was going away (as) 18-wheel freight became more affordable and popular. We’ve lost thousands of miles of railroad track around America, but I think you are going to see the beginning of the end of them pulling (track) up and more than likely they are going to figure out how to reuse it.”

Efficient rail transportation is essential for economic development in Rusk County, states the resolution passed by commissioners on Jan. 14 creating Rusk County Rural Rail Transportation District. In early February, the commissioners appointed board members: Cloutier, Ms. Henderson, Scott Andrews, Kelly Sparks, Dwayne Miley and Rick Keeling.

The district is eligible for private, state and federal funds for development of infrastructure to maintain a rail system. Maintenance would be carried out without taxing property owners.

County Judge Sandra Hodges proposed the rail district after a consultant, John Helsley with Texas Rail Alliance, came to her and discussed that counties are using authority granted by the state to form rail districts.

“We just think it will help us with business and more economic development,” Ms. Hodges said, as well as with efforts to preserve the track.

She recalled that track used to cross Texas Highway 64 in Henderson near the “traffic star” and went to the depot, but some of the track was taken up and now only runs to the industrial park. “We are worried that they might shut (the remaining link) down,” she said.

Freight rail service on the track has dwindled, according to Cloutier and a resolution adopted by the rail district.

The only current user, West Fraser Inc., a Canadian firm that bought the Henderson sawmill from International Paper Co., has seen the number of freight cars shipped out drop from 366 in 2005 to 172 in 2007 and only 26 in the first three months of this year, according to data from West Frasier.

“When you see a trend of constantly decreasing volume, that means that you are fixing to see the absence of rail,” Cloutier said.

Trains can only travel 10 miles per hour because of the track’s condition, so it takes all day for a round trip between Overton and Henderson, according to West Fraser officials.

The track needs maintenance, Cloutier said. Although the rail is good, there is probably $1 million worth of railroad ties that need to be replaced, Ms. Henderson estimated.

“We’ve met with many, many businesses in town that have used it, but the track has become so unreliable they had to look for other (means of freight transportation),” and overall, traffic is “faint,” Cloutier said.

HEDCO has a list of 10 people and businesses that need rail service, but have been unable to partner with Union Pacific. If the district acquired the line and put more users on it, the City of Henderson and Rusk County would grow, predicted the economic development manager.