THE COUNTY SCENE
CORP – State Settlement
News broke late last week that a settlement had been reached between the State of Oregon and CORP relating to the partially built switch yard adjacent to the Douglas County Forest Products site just north of Roseburg, at Winchester.
As you remember, CORP and their parent company, RailAmerica (RA) received a ConnectOregon grant from the state to finance the cost of the switch yard. Land was acquired by RA and construction began on the site. Soon after, RA served notice to the shippers on the CORP line that runs from Coos Bay to Eugene that the line was going to be shut down. Intense discussions between the state, RA, and the shippers ensued. The result was that RA did shut down the Coos Bay line and the state froze the ConnectOregon grant. Suits and counter-suits were filed between the state and RA. The situation languished as the legal process ground forward.
The settlement is good for Douglas County, the state, and the CORP. The rail yard will be built with some minor changes to the plan that will bring down the cost. The state will reinstate the ConnectOregon grant at a lower amount. CORP has agreed not to switch trains in downtown Roseburg.
An important function of the rail yard is to store cars for lumber when the lumber markets are hot. During the housing boom, our forest products industry was hobbled by the lack of quick availability of rail cars. If the cars were available, CORP had them stored on sidings all along the line, and efficiently moving the cars to the mills and then into the national rail system was complicated and time consuming. Same concept as those (manual) hand held games we played as kids where the goal was to move all the pieces into a pattern, making use of the maneuvering room provided by one empty square.
The new switch yard will be bigger, have more storage and will allow our local producers to bring in raw material and ship finished goods to market more quickly. This is an important way to protect some of our best paying and best benefit jobs.
Moving car switching to the Winchester yard will alleviate some of the delays that make us all crazy as we drive around the city.
The yard will allow CORP to more efficiently serve its customers, lowering the cost per unit on their balance sheets.
I am hopeful that this will also be the beginning of a better partnership between the players. We will be working together for along time into the future.
Susan always welcomes your questions or comments. Please contact her by email at morgan@co.douglas.or.us; by mail at Douglas County Courthouse, Room 217, 1036 SE Douglas, Roseburg, 97470; or by phone at 440-4201.