Deal to reroute trains advances

A $50 million project to quiet trains on Salt Lake City's west side — as well as make way for future parks and the possible restoration of City Creek — is a step closer to reality.

The City Council on Tuesday approved an agreement with Union Pacific for work on the Grant Tower rail realignment.

The agreement is the second of three the city will have to approve. It has already signed off on an agreement with Salt Lake County that would include $3.5 million going to the project from the county. The city still must approve an agreement with the Utah Department of Transportation.

The Grant Tower rail line includes two 90-degree angle turns in the area west of The Gateway. Because of the dramatic slowing the turns require, Union Pacific in 2001 reactivated an abandoned rail line that runs along 900 South so its trains could bypass the bottleneck.

Because that line crosses several streets where there are no crossing gates, there are a number of spots where trains must blow their whistles near neighborhoods.

The Grant Tower realignment would straighten the turns and allow Union Pacific to stop using the 900 South line.

"For the people who have lived along the tracks all those years, bearing the brunt of those trains and all the rest that goes with it, it's going to be a great chance to change our neighborhood in a lot of ways," said Councilman Van Turner, before the council unanimously approved the agreement. Turner's district includes the affected neighborhoods.

The deal calls for Union Pacific to give ownership of the 900 South and Folsom Street track corridors to the city, which could one day establish a "linear park" in the area and bring City Creek to the surface.

The council on Tuesday also initiated eminent-domain proceedings on a piece of land at 579 W. North Temple, owned by GCII investments. The city needs land along the corridor that is owned by Rocky Mountain Power. The company has been unwilling to sell but has said it would trade for the GCII land.

City staff say negotiations are progressing with GCII and condemnation shouldn't be necessary, but because of the timing of the project, the proceedings need to begin in case a deal can't be worked out.

The Grant Tower project is being funded by several sources: $11.2 million from the city, $5 million in federal grants, $15 million each from the Utah Transit Authority and Union Pacific and $3.5 million to come from county sales-tax money.

---

E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com