NCRA hopes to get OK for freight rail service next month

<p>Federal rail inspectors have finished their review of repairs on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties, but haven't decided whether it's safe to resume freight service on the route.</p><p>That decision is expected in March, said Mitch Stogner, director of the North Coast Railroad Authority, the public agency responsible for cargo trains.</p><p>The authority wants to resume freight service by the end of March, Stogner said Wednesday. But it's uncertain whether it will meet that goal.</p><p>There are several more legal hurdles to be cleared before trains roll again, the authority's board learned Wednesday at a meeting in Healdsburg.</p><p>Last week, the Federal Railroad Administration finished inspecting 62 miles of track between Napa County and Windsor. The federal agency closed the line in 2001 after storm damage made it too dangerous for train traffic.</p><p>Since then, the railroad authority has spent $68 million in state and federal funds to put the line back in operating condition.</p><p>NCRA said cargo trains will provide a low-cost alternative for North Bay shippers and take trucks off Highway 101. It plans three round-trip trains per week between Windsor and a rail junction south of Napa where the Northwestern Pacific connects to the national rail network.</p><p>On Wednesday, Sonoma County shippers said they're anxious for cargo service to return. </p><p>“Freight is a very important part of our future,” said Dick Caletti of Standard Structures, a Windsor company that makes industrial wood beams.</p><p>One rail car can carry three truckloads of freight, said Bill Owens of Korbel Champagne Cellars in Guerneville.</p><p>But NCRA still needs to finalize a joint operating agreement with Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, the commuter rail agency that owns the tracks south of Healdsburg.</p><p>NCRA also must adopt an environmental report on the project and a final agreement with Novato, which sued the authority in 2007.</p><p>Meanwhile, one NCRA board member is challenging a lease agreement between the rail authority and NWP Co., the private company picked to operate the freight trains.</p><p>Bernard Meyers, a former Novato mayor who represents Marin County on the authority's board, said the existing lease favors NWP Co. at the expense of taxpayers.</p><p>In a memo to the board Wednesday, Meyers said the lease provides little for NCRA. He said the lease should be re-negotiated before freight service starts.</p><p>“The public is entitled to a better return on its investment,” Meyers said in the memo.</p><p>But others on the board disagreed. Board member Allan Hemphill said Meyers' public statements on the issue disqualify him from serving on a subcommittee reviewing the lease.</p><p>In a 5-4 vote, the board voted to leave Meyers off the panel.</p>