S.L. OKs funding to revamp rail line

The Salt Lake City Council formally committed money Tuesday to removing trains — which have bothered residents for the past four years — from a 900 South rail line.

The city will pay $4 million from its main city fund to straighten a rail line that has caused a bottleneck for trains.

Union Pacific trains have been using tracks that run along 900 South, between 900 West and Redwood Road, to avoid a bottleneck in the Grant Tower rail line, which has two 90-degree turns that force trains to slow to 10 mph.

The city and its redevelopment agency — a technically separate entity of Salt Lake City that is administered by the City Council — must still provide another $7 million to meet Salt Lake's $11 million share of the nearly $50 million price for straightening the tracks. The council will split that $7 million among the RDA's accounts and the additional city money, and could sell city bonds to cover the cost.

The Utah Transit Authority and Union Pacific will pay approximately $15 million each, and the federal government has agreed to contribute $5 million. The Legislature's $3.5 million backing in the final days of the 2006 session accounted for the last of the money needed to realign the rail line. That $3.5 million will come from Salt Lake County, which also agreed Tuesday to use its share of transportation money from sales taxes to help move the rails.

City Council Chairman Dave Buhler urged the council's approval for the $4 million "with the understanding that there's more to come," and that Union Pacific filed a petition to abandon the line Feb. 13 after the city, UTA, the Legislature and the federal government agreed to kick in millions to realign the Grant Tower curves.

In other business:

• The council agreed to start releasing bond money for The Leonardo at Library Square.

The Leonardo raised $10 million in private money, which made it eligible for $10.2 million in matching city money from a November 2003 voter-approved bond. The council will discuss a formal resolution releasing the bond money during an April meeting and try to sell the bonds sometime in June.

• The council scheduled a public hearing on April 18 for a proposed 50-cent hike in taxi fares. The increase, which would go directly to the cab drivers, is intended to reimburse the drivers for increased gas prices this fall just after Hurricane Katrina.

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E-mail: kswinyard@desnews.com