USDOT awards TIGER IV grant for Oregon short-line track rehab

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) yesterday announced it awarded more than $7 million to the state of Oregon through a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) IV grant to help fund a short line's $9.4 million trackwork project. The Oregon Department of Transportation applied for the TIGER IV grant last year.

The work involves rehabilitating a 296-mile stretch of track operated by the Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad Inc. that's been closed since 2008 due to its poor condition and a lack of repair funds. The project calls for improving tunnels, rails, ties and bridges to accommodate 286,000-pound rail cars.

The track runs parallel to Interstate 5 between northern California and Oregon, so reopening the line will provide an environmentally friendly, economically competitive alternative for shipping goods in the region, USDOT officials said in a news brief.

"With new freight rail options, the project can be expected to boost local business by mitigating losses and damage to forest products that occur when the goods are shipped by truck," USDOT officials said in a TIGER IV grant award summary released in June 2012. "The project is expected to reduce yearly truck accidents, ... improve the state of the roads and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by removing trucks from mountainous highways, where there are elevated safety concerns and highway maintenance costs."