FOR RELEASE	Contact: Dennis Watson
02/03/2005 (Thursday)	(202) 565-1596
No. 05-4	FIRS 1 (800) 877-8339
	www.stb.gov

Statement of Surface Transportation Board Chairman Roger Nober on Agency's Approval of Trackage Rights To Provide Dual Rail Service in the Bayport Industrial District of Houston

Surface Transportation Board Chairman Roger Nober today announced that the Board approved the right of BNSF Railway Company to use 15.6 miles of tracks owned by the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The approval was necessary to implement an aspect of the agreement between the two railroads to provide dual railroad service to particular traffic from certain shippers in the Bayport Industrial District in southeast Houston, Texas.

In making the announcement, Chairman Nober said

"I am pleased that the Board expeditiously approved these trackage rights. Our agency has been involved in the process of bringing two railroads to these Bayport shippers for a long time, and I am pleased that we have done our part to make the agreement the railroads negotiated work."

In May 2003, the Board approved the construction of a 12.8-mile rail line to provide certain shippers in Bayport with a competitive rail transportation option. Actual construction of the rail line had been delayed by litigation in the Texas courts. In December 2004, Union Pacific and BNSF announced they had reached agreement to provide these shippers in the Bayport Industrial District of southeast Houston, Texas, with access to both railroads.

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