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Alamo North Texas Railroad Corp. recently petitioned Surface Transportation Board for final approval to build and operate a 2.25-mile rail line in Wise County, Texas, to serve a Chico, Texas, limestone quarry operated by the railroad's parent company, Martin Marietta Materials Southwest Ltd.
The board's Section of Environmental Analysis (SEA) recently completed an environmental assessment of the line, which would connect with Union Pacific Railroad.
STB in November granted Alamo North conditional approval to construct the line, pending consideration of environmental impacts.
The railroad plans to use the line to transport crushed-limestone aggregates (about 2 million tons annually) from the Chico quarry to customers located less than 70 miles away.
Martin Marietta currently trucks aggregates primarily to Dallas-area customers, but company officials believe trucking the product more than 50 miles is becoming increasingly inefficient and expensive.
STB is soliciting public comments on SEA's environmental assessment until May 10.