PORT AUTHORITY TO BUY RAILROAD TRACKS

SCOTT CITY -- The Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority will take another step today in its effort to become a Midwest hub for transportation.

The authority will sign papers at 10 a.m. to purchase 5.8 miles of railroad track from the Thebes, Ill., bridge north through Scott City to the port and into Cape Girardeau.

Owning the rail line will give the port access to three other railroads: Burlington Northern, Union Pacific and Southern Pacific.

"That's a tremendous advantage," said Mysie Keene of Jackson, chairman of the port authority Board of Commissioners.

She said there will be some competitive price advantages from the arrangement. In addition, goods in and out of the port will be moved to more parts of the country.

Keene said products will come and go by barge, rail, truck and air.

Keene said she agreed with remarks made by U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson at a recent announcement of a federal grant for port development. Emerson said just a few ports have access to three rail lines. That's particularly true with smaller ports, he said.

Having access to three other railroads in the Midwest will make the SEMO port one of the most advantageously placed facilities in the country, Emerson said. This will lead to higher usage and growth of the port, Keene said.

The almost six miles of track is being purchased from Union Pacific, said Dan Overbey, the port authority's executive director.

The sales price is $300,000, with $180,000 of that funded by a federal grant from the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The port authority is providing the balance of $120,000 from its own funds.

To own and operate the rail line, the port authority board formed a separate corporation, SEMO Port Railroad Inc. Members of the port authority board are also on the new railroad's board of directors.

The Interstate Commerce Commission approved the sale, Overbey said.

The line has no traffic remaining on it, Overbey said. It had previously been used to haul coal from Southern Illinois into Cape Girardeau for transport to the St. Louis area.

The port authority will have to absorb the fixed-cost of running a railroad, Overbey said. But the advantage of having rail access to the port will outweigh the costs over the years, he said.

The port authority already has agreements to connect railroad traffic with Burlington Northern at its rail yards in Cape Girardeau and with Union Pacific at its track switch called Capedeau. Overbey said the port authority is working to establish a connection with Southern Pacific here.

The train engine to move the rail cars from the connecting rail lines into the port is being transported from Fort Carson, Col. Overbey was there last week to help load the 120-ton engine onto two flatcars, which left Fort Carson Tuesday.

Overbey said the trip is expected to take 10 to 14 days. The engine should arrive here late next week or early the following week.

The port authority was awarded the surplus engine through the General Services Administration. The authority had to pay $7,500 to the state of Missouri for a processing fee. The cost to move the engine is $15,000, Overbey estimated.

"We are getting a locomotive in good shape," Overbey said. "I'm pleased to get it."