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7/3/2023
The Surface Transportation Board last week ruled that Tacoma Rail and Tacoma Rail Mountain Division — two separate departments within the city of Tacoma, Washington — could end rail service over 3.5 miles of track.
On March 8, Tacoma Rail petitioned the board to discontinue rail service on the line extending between East C Street to McKinley Avenue. Then on March 14, Tacoma Rail Mountain Division — the non-operating owner of the line, the city’s public works department — filed a separate petition to end service on the line.
City officials had advised the line's only shipper, Tacoma Steel Supply Inc., about the plans to discontinue rail service and didn't expect an objection. But in April, the shipper did object, arguing that the line is a good way to transport large loads of steel and increases property value.
City officials claimed there’s no precedent for requiring a railroad to maintain service over a line in order to protect a shipper’s property value. They also noted that Tacoma Steel didn’t disagree that the line has hosted little traffic over the past several years — the last known local shipment on the line occurred on April 23, 2021 — and the company offered no assurance of future traffic or commitments.
In granting the request to discontinue rail service, STB members determined that the city was asking only to end rail service on the line and not abandon it.