RAILROADS' CROSSING Colton Crossing may sound like the California Inland Empire's latest shopping center. But say the name to transportation experts as far away as Los Angeles and beyond, and they recognize it as a notorious freight-train bottleneck. The Union Pacific Railroad and the BNSF Railway Company rail lines intersect just east of Mount Slover in what amounts to a four-way stop for trains. The intersection holds up mile-long trains carrying goods from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to the rest of the nation, forcing them to sit idling while other trains cross. Building a bridge to elevate one set of tracks and eliminate the crossing so trains can run freely in all directions will help both of the railroad companies speed freight shipments to their destinations. So why are taxpayers being asked to dig into their pockets to build the project? Because it will benefit local residents, too, by keeping halted trains from blocking traffic on surface streets and polluting the air with diesel fumes while they idle. Earlier this month, the San Bernardino Associated Governments agreed to spend $2.2 million in state funding to begin engineering design and environmental study of the proposed rail line separation. Over the several years the work is expected to take, transportation officials hope to hammer out an agreement with the two railroads on how much they will contribute to the estimated $150 million to $250 million cost of the project. Spokespeople for Union Pacific and BNSF said the railroads expect to pay a share. But BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent said it's way too early to start talking about dollar figures. Local governmental agencies have no authority to require railroads to pay for projects like the rail separation, said Richard Little, director of USC's Keston Institute for Infrastructure. Railroads were exempted from local control when laws governing them were enacted 150 years ago as the rail lines were being forged across the young nation. The Colton Crossing has been slowing freight traffic for a long time, Little said. But he and other transportation experts say the railroads might have delayed fixing it themselves, figuring the state would step in when delays on surface streets became intolerable. The initial design work is being paid for with state transportation funds dedicated to improving interregional rail transit, said Darren Kettle, SANBAG's freeway construction director. Already, it has hit a snag. The California Transportation Commission agreed to pay $2.2 million for the design work, but the consultant selected as best qualified to do it estimates it will cost $3.5 million, Kettle said. The increase resulted from transportation engineers' salaries spiraling in the 18 months or so since Caltrans estimated the design work's cost. While the work is under way, SANBAG, Union Pacific and BNSF will negotiate the railroads' share of the cost of building the project, Kettle said. It could be as little as 15 percent, the railroad's share when Metrolink was built. You'd think the savings from speeding freight deliveries would quickly repay the cost of building the bridge, if the railroads did it themselves without public help. But apparently they haven't deemed it worthwhile without taxpayer money. - Cassie MacDuff, The Riverside Press-Enterprise
