Freight trains to return to North Bay on Wednesday

<p>Freight trains could roll on the Northwestern Pacific Railroad in Sonoma, Marin and Napa counties today after the Novato City Council late Tuesday agreed to revise a legal settlement that sets guidelines for trains running through the city.</p><p>Two council members voted against the proposed changes in the settlement, saying they were worried about the impacts of train traffic.</p><p>“My first concern is for safety,” said City Councilwoman Carole Dillon-Knutson. She also asked about noise and emissions.</p><p>The railroad should meet stricter timelines for noise mitigation, said Councilwoman Pat Eklund.</p><p>City staff, however, said the changes sought by the North Coast Railroad Authority were a good compromise. The settlement passed on a 3-2 vote.</p><p>Freight trains will return to the North Bay today, said Mitch Stogner, executive director of the NCRA. The agency has been conducting test runs on the tracks in recent weeks.</p><p>NCRA has leased the rail line to a private operator, NWP Co., which plans to start service with three round trips per week and trains up to 15 cars long.</p><p>Trains would mostly haul feed and grain, wine, lumber and aggregates.</p><p>Federal transportation regulators halted freight trains on the Northwestern Pacific in 2001 when the line was badly damaged by winter storms. </p><p>Over the past four years, the railroad authority spent $68 million in tax money to reopen a 62-mile stretch between Napa County and Windsor.</p><p>Novato sued NCRA in 2007, charging it didn't consider environmental impacts of cargo trains.</p><p>In 2008, a Marin County judge approved a settlement that required the rail authority to pay for “quiet zones” at seven public rail crossings in the city.</p><p>The settlement also ordered the authority to weld the tracks for noise reduction in a 19-mile stretch around Novato and use a low-emissions locomotive.</p><p>In addition, the authority agreed to pay Novato's legal costs and $100,000 for noise mitigation. The various improvements cost more than $1.3 million.</p><p>The authority asked Novato last year to change several terms of the settlement, including the requirement for welded rails.</p><p>It would be a waste of public funds for the authority to weld the existing rails, it said, because Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit is planning to install new welded rails for its commuter train service starting in 2014.</p><p>The authority also said SMART has agreed to pay for quiet zone improvements with federal transportation grants.</p><p>The rail authority asked for delays in construction of some improvements and promised to operate trains at low speeds in the Novato area until they are done.</p><p>Earlier this year, Novato's staff tentatively agreed to most of the changes. But Novato said the authority would still be responsible for the improvements if they aren't completed on time.</p>