SPI tears up historic rail line section Friday, October 16, 2009 By Roger Phelps On this stretch once lay tracks of the historic Amador Central Railroad. In Martell, between state routes 49 and 88, right-of-way owner Sierra Pacific Industries is tearing out tracks as it develops a business park named after the railroad.Photo by: Jerry Budrick A quarter-mile of historic rail line disappeared during September from the old Amador Central Railroad right-of-way in Martell. Torn up by right-of-way owner Sierra Pacific Industries, the tracks represented hope for restoration of general rail service to Amador County - and for possibly even passenger rail to serve commuters to Sacramento. But SPI declared as long ago as 2004 that it wasn't interested in keeping the rail line operative. It petitioned the federal government for the right to abandon the railroad on Nov. 12 of that year. A particle-board factory, SierraPine, at one time used the rails to ship out its products. The rails are being taken up "consistent with our plan to develop the property (known as the Amador Central Business Park)," said SPI spokesman Mark Luster. "The timing of removal is to create jobs in a slow economy." Luster said he didn't know how many jobs will be created. In its 2004 petition, the company argued maintenance costs, safety issues and what it called an unlikelihood that demand would arise for restored rail service, according to federal Surface Transportation Board documents. Also that year, protests against SPI's railway-abandonment petition were filed by the California Department of Transportation, the Amador County Transportation Commission, the county Board of Supervisors and development interests known as the Martell Industrial Center, LLC, documents show. County officials wanted SPI to at least be required to make a full application to the Surface Transportation Board, in which the company would have had to provide evidence for their arguments. SPI's petition was simply for an exemption from federal application requirements - and from federal review of an application. It wanted a summary granting of right to abandon, with no review. "Amador County Transportation Commission opposes the petition for exemption," STB officials wrote in a decision document. "ACTC contends that the exemption criteria are not met here and that the petitioners should be required to file a formal application." However, the federal transportation board was impressed enough with SPI's request that it took barely three months to decide in the company's favor. Dave Butow, board member in the Amador County Historical Society and board president when the abandonment petition was filed, said SPI reneged on terms of a memorandum of understanding by which the company would have provided photographs of the rail-line section before removing it. Butow said he hoped the state Office of Historical Preservation, a signer of the MOA, would pressure SPI to observe all further agreement terms. "We don't have any leverage," Butow said. "They (SPI) don't care about the fact we wanted to keep the railroad intact." Charles Field, executive director of Amador County Transportation Commission, said ACTC officials now want SPI to remove tracks that cross state routes 49 and 88 in Martell, on the east and west ends of the Amador Central Business Park property. State law continues to require county buses, for example, to halt at the tracks before crossing. ACTC sees the tracks across State Route 49 as contributing to "a cluttered intersection" near Jackson Gate Road and State Route 49, Field said. However, that wish is of no concern to SPI, Luster said. "We're concerned with the track inside the business park," Luster said. He said that except for the fact that SPI owns the tracks, the company is not involved in any decision to remove the tracks that cross the highways. "You'd have to contact Caltrans on the tracks across the highways," Luster said. "That would have to be worked out between Caltrans and the county transportation board. We would have no further comment." Surface Transportation Board officials were firm in their decision, which came in February 2005, in support of SPI's petition. "These exemptions will foster sound economic conditions and encourage efficient management by relieving SierraPine from the costs of operating and SPI from the costs of owning and rehabilitating the line," the STB decision document reads.
