Thursday, September 6, 2012

Union Pacific prepares Brooklyn Yard for light rail line

Omaha, Neb.-based Union Pacific Railroad has requested permits to complete $23.3 million in projects largely designed to accommodate its new neighbor at Portland's Brooklyn Yard.

Union Pacific Railroad Co.?s busy Brooklyn Yard in Southeast Portland is getting an update to prepare for the arrival of its new neighbor, the Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Line.

In the past month, the Omaha, Neb.-based railroad has asked the city of Portland for permits to complete $23.3 million in projects largely designed to accommodate its new neighbor at Brooklyn Yard, 5424 S.E. McLoughlin Blvd.

The proposed work includes demolishing the superintendent?s office, which is nearly in the path of the future light rail line, constructing a new office for railroad crews based at Brooklyn and preparing the site for future redevelopment, according to the permits and Brock Nelson, the railroad?s Oregon-based public affairs director.

Nelson said the rail yard work is largely focused on accommodating the light rail line and is separate from its future plans to modernize the yard. Union Pacific intends to streamline loading and unloading operations and improve the movement of trains through the property, but officials say those discussions are preliminary.

The Brooklyn Yard has operated for about a century and was part of the Southern Pacific system prior to its merger with Union Pacific in 1997. It is Union Pacific?s sole intermodal facility in the Portland area and supports freight movement along the West Coast, including the shipment of Oregon-made products.

?The rail yard is an important part of the economy in the state. People tend to forget, every holiday season we ship thousands and thousands of Christmas trees from Oregon out of that yard,? said Aaron Hunt, the railroad?s media relations director.

Work under review includes:

  • $20.6 million for a drivers? building and site work for redevelopment.
  • $1.6 million to construct a 7,700-square-foot administrative building.
  • $300,000 to renovate an office in Northeast Portland for the relocated administrative team.
  • $762,000 for various smaller projects to improve truck entrances and exits and construct a small building.
  • In related permit activity, TriMet secured the city?s permission to demolish a pair of key features near the Brooklyn yard, the roundhouse and roundhouse office building. The transit agency acquired the property, 5500 S.E. McLoughlin Blvd., for the light rail project. Jammie?s Environmental Inc. is the contractor. The roundhouse is the former home of the Oregon Rail Heritage Foundation, which has moved its historic locomotives to a new facility near the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. The new rail museum opens Sept. 22, when the Portland Streetcar makes its eastside debut.
Wendy Culverwell covers real estate, retail and hospitality.

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