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Today, the Surface Transportation Board conditionally approved Six County Association of Governments' plan to build a 43-mile rail line in central Utah.
Pending the board's environmental review, the association — a consortium of six Utah counties — would build and operate the line running south from a Union Pacific Railroad connection near Levan to Salina.
The board ruled that the counties' regulation exemption request would promote national rail transportation policy, and that the line would provide an alternative rail service for isolated Utah shippers and foster intermodal competition.
The line would provide rail access to Southern Utah Fuel Co., which currently uses trucks to transport coal 83 miles from its Salina mine to UP's Levan connection.
Source: Progressive Railroading Daily News