Claim filed against Mendocino Railway

On February 28, the Great Redwood Trail Agency filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board of “adverse abandonment” of a 40-mile segment of the Northwest Pacific Railroad between Fort Bragg and Willits. This is a necessary procedural step to begin railbanking this segment, turning the historic railroad into part of the Great Redwood Trail.

This segment of rail currently connects Mendocino Railway to the interstate network. However, the Federal Railroad Administration embargoed this line in 1998. According to the Great Redwood Trail Agency, the embargo means it has not had any freight traffic on it in over 20 years. As such, the Great Redwood Trail Agency says Mendocino Railway’s connection to the Northwest Pacific Railroad railway should be severed.

The Great Redwood Trail Agency also says there is no realistic prospect for the railway to be used for carrying freight in the foreseeable future. According to the Great Redwood Trail Agency, this is due to “the expense of over $100,000,000 to rehabilitate it, the lack of any need for rail service on it, the instability and flooding of the land in the right-of-way, and various tunnel collapses.”

The Great Redwood Trail Agency’s petition also alleges that Mendocino Railway has abused its status as a rail carrier to justify exercising eminent domain to acquire property for purported freight rail uses, even though it has never shipped any freight on the line.

However, according to Mendocino Railway President Robert Pinoli, various shippers have contacted Mendocino Railway to move freight along the Northwest Pacific Railroad corridor.

In an email statement, Pinoli said “Moving freight over Mendocino Railway’s Skunk Line has been forecasted at 2,500 carloads per year, that’s the equivalent of removing some 10,000 trucks from Highway 20.”

Pinoli also suggested an alternative to railbanking the line, offering the railroad’s services to begin trail construction alongside the rails.

“This approach would allow for the continued use of Northwest Pacific Railroad’s rail network while also allowing a recreational trail for local residents and visitors to enjoy,” Pinoli said.

Last year the Great Redwood Trail Agency filed to railbank 176 miles of the rail line from Willits to Humboldt Bay, and the Surface Transportation Board approved the application.

In October, the Surface Transportation Board found that the Skunk Train was not financially equipped to take over thirteen miles of track in the northern portion of the future trail.

Several segments of the Great Redwood Trail are already built and open to the public in cities like Eureka, Arcata, and Ukiah and are underway in Willits and Humboldt Bay.