STB Authorizes Green Eagle Railroad Line in Maverick County, TX

The Surface Transportation Board today issued a decision authorizing the construction and operation by Green Eagle Railroad (GER) of an approximately 1.3-mile rail line in Eagle Pass and Maverick County, Texas.  The line is part of the larger Puerto Verde Global Trade Bridge project, a proposal to create a new trade corridor for freight traffic and commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) between Eagle Pass, Texas, across the U.S.-Mexico border, and into the Mexican State of Coahuila.

The line would extend from the U.S.-Mexico border to connect with Union Pacific Railroad (UP) near UP’s Eagle Pass Subdivision and would route rail and CMV traffic around the urban center of Eagle Pass, with the potential to improve safety, security, capacity, and fluidity at Eagle Pass.  GER stated that the line, and the overall project, would be fully fenced, monitored, and patrolled.

In today’s decision, the Board authorizes GER to construct and operate over the environmentally preferred route, the Southern Rail Alternative, subject to certain environmental mitigation conditions.  Should GER construct and operate the line, it has the potential to increase safety and security and, in turn, encourage competition with other border crossings.  The Board’s environmental analysis also identifies beneficial impacts on freight rail safety, grade crossing delays, air quality, and energy.  The Board finds that GER’s representations on the record that it will not construct and operate the line without reaching agreements with UP and BNSF Railway (BNSF) are material to GER’s proposal and the Board’s analysis of the proposal, and thus GER must inform the Board prior to construction if there are developments that change this representation.  Today’s decision also requires GER to file a status report on the progress of the project, including updates on the progress of negotiations with UP and BNSF, in six months, then annually thereafter.

Today’s decision in Green Eagle Railroad—Construction & Operation Exemption—Line of Railroad in Maverick County, Texas, Docket No. FD 36652, may be viewed and downloaded here.