The RTA (Rabid Recreational Trail Advocates) is on the rampage again. They’ve stepped up their efforts to convert the Kellar Branch into a dedicated trail. The article in the paper is full of interesting information on their efforts:

The group then voted to spend up to $10,000 to hire its own lawyer, and will set up meetings with U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria, and Democratic U.S. Sens. Dick Durban [sic] and Barack Obama, to seek their backing.

Of course, the city has had their lawyer working on this issue for about 10 years, but sure, go ahead and waste your money on yet another lawyer. That and a dollar will get you a cup of coffee.

They’ll ask members to write the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, and will gather petitions signed earlier in favor of the trail to submit to local officials.

Do these people not realize by now that the STB exists to ensure competitive rail service is protected? They’re more concerned about Carver Lumber and new businesses that may be coming on line than the efforts of trail advocates to rip up rails and ties at any cost.

They also will talk with members of the Peoria City Council and Peoria Heights Village Board.

The Heights may be a linchpin in this debate. They don’t appear to be as sold on the trail proposition as Peoria has been thus far. If they pull out of the deal, it will be a dead issue.

The group discussed proposed new shippers on the line, and said they were located either south of War Memorial Drive on a part of the line that will not be turned into a trail, or at Pioneer Park where they can be served by the $2 million line the city built to serve an industrial park there.

This ignores the whole issue behind why the discontinuance proceeding was held up in the first place. The basis for Carver Lumber’s objection to shutting down the Kellar Branch permanently was that they were not getting comparable or competitive service via the western connection. Taking out any portion of the Kellar Branch, no matter how small, breaks Carver’s link to competitive rail service and leaves them hostage to Union Pacific’s rates. That’s going to be true of any new customers that come on line in Pioneer Park as well — they’re going to want competitive rail service via the Kellar Branch.

Elsewhere in the article, Rucker claims that the STB ruling is “highly favorable” to the RTA’s goals for trail use, and City Attorney Randy Ray says he’s heard that Union Pacific (UP) is working with Central Illinois Railroad to provide competitive service to Pioneer Park from the west. This shows a profound naïveté on both Rucker’s and possibly Ray’s part.

Rucker doesn’t know the difference between “discontinuance” and “adverse discontinuance,” nor does he understand what an “alternative service request” is, so he’s misreading the STB’s decision. Ray can’t seriously believe that any “agreement” worked out between UP and CIRY is going to have any long-term impact. UP still has a monopoly on service to the western spur, and though they could lower their rates today, they could just as easily raise them tomorrow. The only guarantee of competitive service is competition. Competition is only available via the Kellar Branch.

[Park District Director Bonnie] Noble said that both Peoria and Peoria Heights agreed to pursue the trail years ago, and contracted with the park district to build and maintain it.

I don’t believe this is true. The only contract I know of is this ground lease, and that is only between the City of Peoria and the Park District, not Peoria Heights. In any event, §2.2 states that the contract does not take effect until the STB rules to discontinue service on the Kellar Branch. That hasn’t happened.

Money from the state and federal governments is still available, she [Noble] said, but they will not fund a trail beside a rail line, as some have suggested.

If the reporting is accurate on this, that’s a new story from Ms. Noble. I wonder to which grant(s) she is referring. The Illinois Bicycle Path Grant Program will indeed fund a trail beside a rail line.

[Peoria Heights Mayor Mark] Allen said he’s also interested in the potential of running a rail car along the line to transport people from the new museum on the riverfront to Peoria Heights, Junction City and the Rock Island Trail. “I think the interest would be there if it’s marketed properly.”

Great idea! You know what else they could do? They could put a bike rack on the rail car similar to the ones on CityLink buses. Then trail enthusiasts can ride the rail from downtown to Pioneer Park to pick up the Rock Island Trail. You can’t tell me that wouldn’t be a bigger tourist draw than having a trail through residents’ backyards.

The rail line is in poor condition and has been ruled unsafe by federal inspectors. Some of the rails date from 1902, Rucker said.

Pioneer has offered to pay for the line’s rehabilitation.

Bingo. Pioneer has also offered to purchase the line from the city for $565,000. The park district wants to lease the line for 99 years at $1 per year. Which do you think is a better deal for the city?

The Journal Star reports that Ray LaHood has given up on converting the Kellar Branch to a dedicated hiking trail in today’s second editorial in as many days on the topic. Quoth Congressman Ray:

“We need to build a trail next to the rail. I don’t think we’re ever going to get the kind of ruling we want” from the Surface Transportation Board.

So now the Journal Star is starting to consider the side-by-side option again. They’ve read the Park District’s estimate on how much it supposedly would cost and accepted it without question. I posited my response to that in the comments section of their website. I’ll quote it here, too:

The Journal Star says: “a park district analysis from July 2006 puts the side-by-side option at an astounding $29 million.”

Astounding indeed. I have a copy of this “analysis,” and it is completely unverifiable. There is no information on what engineering firm (if any) produced this estimate; no information on how they determined costs, materials, or labor; no location information given for the numerous “trestles” they claim are necessary; and no comparison to what the trail would cost if they could remove the rails. If Pioneer had put together an “analysis” as poor as the park district’s, the JSEB would be throwing every pejorative adjective in the thesaurus at it.

“there’s no guarantee that Peoria and Peoria Heights will find a suitable carrier…”

Pioneer is a suitable carrier by any objective measure. The only reason they would be considered unsuitable in your eyes is because they don’t agree with you regarding the rail-to-trail conversion.

“…or that any business besides Carver Lumber will want service.”

There are already two more companies that want service on the Kellar Branch, and the Heights is interested in trolley service on the line.

“The line could continue to lie fallow, covered in weeds and trash.”

Right now, the only reason the line is in that condition is because the City of Peoria is allowing it to remain that way. At present, CIRY has no contract with the city that would allow them to run trains on the line, and the city is still in a dispute with Pioneer over whether their contract is still in force; from the city’s perspective, they have no contract with either carrier. Thus, the responsibility falls to the city to maintain the line and abate the weed problem. Why haven’t they done it?

“Meanwhile, surrounding communities enjoy their bike paths, watching new homes sprout up around them.”

News flash: surrounding communities enjoy new construction for many reasons, including school districts and taxes. Accessibility to bike paths is not high on the priority list when people look for a home, if it’s on the list at all.

Another news flash: There’s no place for homes to “sprout up” along the Kellar Branch because there are already homes and businesses along the entire route — it goes right through the middle of the city.

Give it up, editors.

I should have added this: The Journal Star says, “Trains derail, even slow-moving ones. The poor condition of the Kellar tracks enhances that possibility unless there is substantial investment.” I would venture to say that the chances of being mugged on the trail are greater than the chances of having a train fall on you — unless the city hires Central Illinois Railroad to run the line, in which case the odds are even.

A comment from The Mouse reminded me of something.

Since the Journal Star is now fervently defending property rights, I assume they’ll be shutting down their “Save the Journal Star” campaign. After all, it’s Copley’s (and their successor’s) right to do whatever the heck they want with their property, right?

The Journal Star weighed in this morning on the latest Kellar Branch ruling from the Surface Transportation Board (STB).

I have to confess I’m tired of reading these ridiculous editorials. They just keep repeating the same disinformation over and over. They’re not adding anything new to the debate, so if you want to read my response, just check out any of the myriad posts I’ve already done on this topic.

There’s just one comment I’d like to answer, and that’s this:

One final point about the federal ruling: It does not kill the bike path, contrary to claims circulating in the community.

No, it doesn’t kill the bike path. As has always been the case over the past 10-15 years, the bike path could happen in short order if the city and park district would stop this all-or-nothing approach and instead start planning a shared rail and trail use on this corridor. However, if they keep up their bullheadedness, they will likely get no trail at all.

Of course, when the Journal Star says the federal ruling does not kill the bike path, what they mean is that it doesn’t kill the dedicated bike path — the one that would kill the Kellar Branch as a rail line. That’s technically true, but in order for the city to continue pursuing that route, they’d have to hire yet a third carrier (i.e., someone other than Pioneer Industrial Railway or Central Illinois Railroad), sign a new contract, get them up and running, and have them petition the STB to discontinue service on the Kellar Branch — essentially starting the whole proceeding over again — and fight Carver Lumber and Pioneer and CIRY the whole time. The new proceeding could drag out for a year easily. This would be a foolish, expensive, time-consuming, and risky path to take. The chances of it being successful are not in the city’s favor.

It’s time for the city to change direction, pursue shared use of the rail corridor, and move on.

UPDATE: David Jordan has written a more thorough rebuttal over on the Peoria Pundits site.