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Business & Tech

Freight Trains Roll Closer to Napa

The Wine Train may soon no longer be the sole railroad in the county if the freight haul from Windsor is approved by Novato

The trains moved a step closer to rolling from Windsor to Napa this week as the North Coast Railroad Authority, NCRA, announced they had cleared all the hurdles necessary to restart freight service along the route – save the approval of the Novato City Council.

According to a press release from the NCRA, chairman Hal Wagenet said that NCRA and NWP Co., the private short haul rail operator that NCRC will lease the track to, have agreed to all of Novato’s requested changes to the 2008 Novato lawsuit settlement, and is confident that the Novato City Council will do the same.

The Novato City Council is expected to consider the agreement at its next meeting, June 28. If they approve, said Wegenet, “We will launch commercial freight service on the historic Northwestern Pacific Railroad Co. (NWP) tracks between Napa, Marin, and Sonoma Counties.”

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Wagenet made the announcement following NCRA’s June 20 approval of its Environmental Impact Report (EIR); approval of its joint operating agreement with the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District (SMART) governing use of the shared rail corridor; and approval of an agreement with Novato to install “Quiet Zones” and run trains slowly through Novato’s downtown.

The press release reiterated its earlier statements that NCRA has invested over $60 million since 2007 to repair 56 crossing signals, replace 50,000 crossties and 23 tons of ballast, shore up levees near Schellville (Sonoma County), and repair 43 trestles and rail bridges between Windsor and the connection with the Union Pacific rail system south of Napa (Napa Junction/Lombard).

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John Williams of the NWP Co. has said he intends to operate three round-trips per week hauling feed grains, wood products, building materials, wine and other general merchandise during the start-up phase between Napa and Windsor.

This means that the will no longer be the sole railroad in the county--  though they will continue to be the major rail transportation company.

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