The Wednesday morning rail roundup:
— In a significant blow to the fledgling commuter rail service, California voters in Sonoma and Marin counties have turned down a measure extending the quarter-cent sales tax that funds Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit. Approval of the measure would have guaranteed funding through 2059, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat reports; without it, the tax will expire in 2029 and cuts of as much as $9 million per year could begin later this year, with reductions in service and manpower. The measure required a two-thirds majority to pass, but was receiving less than 50% approval in initial returns.
— Canadian National faces a backlog of 10,000 carloads of grain as a result of service disruptions from a series of rail line blockades, CEO JJ Ruest told Reuters. “Of all the supply chains, the one that will take the longest [to recover] is the grain export,” Ruest said. CN said in a Monday statement that it anticipated full recovery would take weeks after more than 1,400 trains were delayed by the protests.
— New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy joined other officials on Tuesday to announce the first extension of NJ Transit’s Hudson-Bergen light rail line since 2008, a half-mile extension of the West Side Avenue Branch to reach a new 8,000-unit residential development on the Hackensack River in Jersey City. The “440 Connection” will cost approximately $220 million, NJ.com reports.
— Minnesota state Rep. Dan Wolgamott (D-St. Cloud) has introduced a bill to provide $6 million in funding for efforts to extend the Northstar commuter rail service to St. Cloud from its current endpoint of Big Lake, Minn. The funding would cover six steps over the next 2 ½ years that are necessary to extend the service, the St. Cloud Times reports, including a ridership and revenue study, identification of equipment needs, and the beginning of formal negotiations with BNSF Railway over use of its tracks. The House Capital Investment Committee will hold a hearing on the bill on Thursday.
