Plan to restore some Eastside rail service bothers trail advocates

Just eight months after BNSF Railway gave away part of an Eastside rail line, a short-haul rail operator wants to bring trains back between Woodinville and Redmond.

GNP Railway, which already runs freight trains between Woodinville and Snohomish, has asked the federal Surface Transportation Board to let it operate farther south, on track owned by Redmond and the Port of Seattle.

The prospect of renewed rail service has upset some government officials and bicycle advocates, who have promoted a biking and hiking trail on the Eastside Rail Corridor.

GNP Chief Operating Officer Tom Payne, a former Canadian railroad engineer turned entrepreneur, said he wants to provide freight service to Redmond businesses and to operate excursion trains from downtown Redmond to Woodinville wineries and downtown Snohomish.

"This is an economic benefit to the communities that have the railway. It brings jobs, it brings tourists, it takes trucks off the road, it doesn't cost the taxpayers a dime or hinder anything they would want to do as a landowner with the property," Payne said.

He said the rail corridor, 100 feet wide in most places, could accommodate a trail next to the tracks.

But building a trail next to an operating rail line is more complicated and expensive than tearing out the tracks and laying pavement.

David Hiller, advocacy director of the Cascade Bicycle Club, said GNP's plans "pull the rug out from under everyone." While the railroad hopes to make a profit, he said, "The reason we were all pushing for protection of that corridor was to support a public use and for a public benefit."

GNP told the Surface Transportation Board in filings on Aug. 24 that two Redmond building-supply companies — Drywall Distributors and Building Specialties — have asked it to resume freight service. Payne said those companies could generate 250 carloads of freight per year, roughly doubling GNP's business.

If the plan is approved by the board, GNP could run trains along the seven-mile Redmond Spur connecting Woodinville and Redmond, and along 1 ½ miles of track between Woodinville and Kirkland.

GNP's proposal is unusual because it asks for permission to resume rail service on tracks it doesn't own and without an agreement with the owners.

Redmond owns about half of the Redmond Spur. The Port of Seattle owns the remainder.

King County has an interest because it paid the Port for the right to build a trail, is negotiating to buy most of the corridor south of Woodinville, and has obtained federal approval to build a trail while "railbanking" the corridor for possible future rail use.

When the Surface Transportation Board last year gave the county the right to replace the tracks with a trail, it said that wouldn't preclude a railroad from seeking to restore rail service.

The Port paid the railroad $81 million for the northern part of the 42-mile Snohomish-to-Renton rail line, and BNSF donated the portion south of Woodinville to the Port as a tax write-off.

Redmond Mayor John Marchione said he was "very disappointed" by GNP's petitions to resume rail service.

"That's not collaboration, that's not partnership," he said. "The city of Redmond's not going to allow diesel engines to idle in our downtown. This corridor is reserved for trail and light rail, and if we add other kinds of rail service in the corridor we'll examine those options in the next year or two."

Pam Bissonnette, the county's executive project manager for the rail corridor, said the railroad's action is "somewhat of a game changer" that raises questions about trail development and could delay the county's purchase of more than 20 miles of track.

She said the county wants GNP to go through a fuller and "more transparent" federal review process than it has proposed.

Bruce Agnew, director of the Discovery Institute's Cascadia Center for Regional Development, which advocates commuter-rail service and a trail, said GNP "is forcing the issue" and that governments should meet in a summit this fall to discuss the future of the corridor.

In a separate proceeding, county residents Arthur Lane, John Allerton and Kenneth Gorohoff claim in King County Superior Court that the Port overstepped its statutory authority by purchasing a rail line outside the Port district.

Port spokeswoman Charla Skaggs said Port attorneys "researched it thoroughly" before the transaction. She declined to comment on the GNP filings.

Keith Ervin: 206-464-2105 or kervin@seattletimes.com