Railroad double-track project delayed through Maricopa

Due to the economic slowdown, leaders of Union Pacific Railroad have moved back the completion of a double-track project two years, delaying the work on Maricopa crossings and the impact it will have on residents.

Brent Billingsley, city development services director, said the wait could be beneficial for Maricopa’s desire to create an underpass or overpass where state Route 347 crosses the tracks.

“This delay may give us a chance as a city to get the grade separation study at the 347 and Union Pacific complete before the track goes in place,” Billingsley said. “This study could help leverage the railroad into providing assistance in accomplishing a grade separation.”

In addition, Billingsley said the delay in the project would push back the closing of the SR 347 crossing to lay track.

“We were originally worried about shutting that intersection 48 hours, but now it sounds like we may not have to worry about that for a while,” he said (see related story).

However, there are also potential drawbacks to the delay. Billingsley said that the city had been working with the railroad on the upgrading of intersections, which would bring the city closer to quiet zone status, where trains would not have to sounds their horns when approaching crossings.

“If the railroad is delayed, it is going to increase the cost to the city to implement a quiet zone,” Billingsley said. (see related story).

The double-track project, originally slated to be completed in 2010, is a 757-mile venture from Los Angeles to El Paso, Texas, that runs through Pinal County.

Workers from the railroad have been working the past couple of years laying almost 60 percent of the track, but majority of the unfinished work is in Arizona.

“We started the project on both ends and planned to meet in the middle,” said Zoey Richmond, Union Pacific spokeswoman.

However, as the company has approached the middle, work has slowed to a near halt.

“When we originally planned the double-track, rail traffic was up significantly, but the past year traffic has declined so the need for the double track is not as great,” Richmond said.

Union Pacific is now planning to complete only 17 miles of track this year.

While minimal track will be laid, workers will continue to do the other infrastructure work. “We will only be doing the grading work in Maricopa this year,” Richmond said.

Union Pacific must also receive approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission before it can do any work at the rail crossings.

These crossings are divided into packets, with the Maricopa packet containing four crossings. This packet was scheduled to go before the commission nearly two weeks prior, but Richmond said the agenda item was pulled at the last minute, and Union Pacific do not know why.

However, she added that even if the packet was approved, the railroad company is not planning on starting work on the Maricopa intersections any time soon.

File photo