FELA Lawsuit

The Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad, which ran from Eugene and Coquille, Oregon, closed in September for safety reasons. The closure has adversely affected at least four major employers that rely on the railroad to ship lumber, wood chips, and steel. Three of nine tunnels on the 120 mile short line railroad “need immediate repairs,” according to the Federal Railroad Administration. One option discussed earlier was to fight the shutdown by challenging whether the conditions are truly unsafe. However, U.S Representative Peter DeFazio said that a FRA report issued November 15, 2007 shows the tunnels are in really bad shape.

The railroad’s parent company, RailAmerica, was purchased earlier this year by a Florida hedge fund. The rail company estimates that $23 million in repairs will be needed to reopen the railroad line, and it wants four other public and private entities to contribute to the effort. The company has suggested that the Union Pacific Railroad, the Oregon Department of Transportation, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay, and the companies that ship their goods on the short line railroad should all contribute. The railroad company also wants $10 million in subsidies from the State of Oregon to defray the $1.5 million it claims to lose annually on the line.

DeFazio reacted angrily to the suggestion of using public funds to bail out the railroad. He described the plan as “a group of super-rich hedge fund managers who are trying to extort the Port of Coos Bay and the people of Oregon for a few million.” He suggested that a better option would be to force the company to sell the line or to seize it through eminent domain.