Train Service through Ashland

It looks like there is some movement on whether or not the train will start running through Ashland again. A petition was filed to let another provider start running the service. As a fan of railways as a mode of transportation, I am at odds with how I feel about the train coming through Ashland again. This line carries little other than lumber from Northern California to Roseburg.

It is not a passenger train…and the freight can still go by rail..it just has to take a very circuitous route up the other side of the Cascades, and over through Springfield.

With the number of old railway crossings in Ashland, and the questionable health of the tunnel at the top of the Siskiyou Pass, I think it would be wise to let this train line be permanently disabled.

This story is not reported in the Ashland paper, but is being followed closely by the paper in Roseburg.

Quoted from http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20080905/NEWS/809059914&parentprofile=search:

CORP open to another operator for Siskiyou line | NRtoday.com – The News-Review

The petition from shippers came in response to a decision by CORP earlier this year to curtail southbound service between Ashland and Weed and to cut northbound service from five days per week to two. The cost to ship on the line was also increased.

Shippers said they were told that unless CORP found a way to increase rail traffic and profitability, all service over the Siskiyou summit might be curtailed.

The changes were made, Lundberg said, because of a lack of rail traffic. According to Wednesday’s filing, CORP has not provided service between Ashland and Montague, Calif., since May 6, the last day service was requested by customers.