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About Fairbanks Candidates - Alaska Rail/Air Link America to World

Alaska/Canada rail connection to Alaska's AirPorts to the world. Great circle air routes to Europe and Asia, stop to refuel in Alaska. A rail connection to America would make Alaska's ports, the front door to America. Natural Gas Fuel Cell Electrified High Speed Railroad to benefit all Alaska. Alaska Railroad World Future

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schoolalaska.com/2007

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AlaskaRailroadFuture

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Sep 24, 2007

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Sep 24, 2007

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Railroad routing concerns aired
By Chris Eshleman
Staff Writer
Published September 26, 2007

A board meeting of the state's railroad Wednesday drew dozens of residents and local officials concerned with the railroad's long-term plans for Fairbanks, specifically an upcoming track reroute on the city's Army post. Railroad officials are pursuing the project as plans for a larger realignment — one that could eventually let trains "bypass" the city's core to the south — slowly materialize. A handful of residents and local officials Wednesday repeated their characterizations of the Fort Wainwright Army post project as wasteful spending. Many have suggested the investment could fasten the rail track in urban neighborhoods near the post and decrease chances the so-called Southern Bypass will ever be built.

"There's an instinct in me that says some of this is an absolute waste ... money spun into the wind," state Rep. Mike Kelly said of the $40 million reroute proposed on the post. Construction of the project, originally scheduled to begin this summer, was delayed and has yet to begin, although around one third of the funding has been appropriated by Congress.

But Railroad Chairman John Binkley said similar concerns arose in recent years over the Southern Bypass option, to which he acknowledged having a preference. "We met a lot of resistance at that time from some of the same groups that are now supporting it," he said. "We lost momentum at that point."

Following the meeting, Binkley said the concerns place a spotlight on the question of whether federal funding headed toward the Fort Wainwright project should, or could, be steered toward the proposed bypass.

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. . . . Either project — the $40 million post reroute or the bypass, estimated to cost at least $200 million and take years to design and build — would eliminate road-to-rail crossings on the post, although the railroad's current plan would do it within a couple of years. Binkley said the funding question is one for military and federal funding authorities to answer. Discussion of the projects was included at the meeting at the request of the Rail Safety and Development Group, an ad-hoc team of retired engineers, local elected officials and a former military commander upset with the railroad.

The issue took up the bulk of the meeting, with tempers bubbling at times. Fairbanks city Mayor Steve Thompson accused the railroad of cutting the city out of discussions over the project as retribution for city officials' vocal support of the Southern Bypass option.

Railroad President and CEO Pat Gamble denied the accusation, and Binkley said the railroad board would look into the matter. Gamble and Binkley also said the railroad would keep an open mind and respond if federal authorities indicate a preference for dropping the Fort Wainwright project in lieu of sole pursuit of the Southern Bypass.

"This is not something the railroad committed to by saying 'it's our way or the highway,'" Gamble said.