Kirkland Sued Over Cross-Kirkland Corridor

Editor's note: The Surface Transportation Board on Aug. 1, 2013, denied the Ballard Terminal Railroad's request to block removal of the tracks.

Originally published May 7, 2013

A lawsuit was filed by Ballard Terminal Railroad Company in Federal District Court in the Western District of Washington in a bid to put a halt to Kirkland's plans to convert 5.75 miles of unused rail line to a multi-use trail.

The Ballard Terminal Railroad describes itself thusly on Facebook: "a short line terminal railroad in Seattle, Washington, USA's Ballard neighborhood, was formed in 1997 to operate trains on three miles of track on the north side of Salmon Bay."  To ensure continued service after BNSF abandoned the line in 1997, the few customers remaining and other investors "formed the Ballard Terminal Railroad, and it began operation early the next year with a 1940s-era locomotive formerly belonging to the Milwaukee Road."

The Ballard Terminal Railroad runs a line in Ballard, also operates two other lines. According to the railroad's Facebook page, Eastside Rail Freight is a segment from Snohomish to Woodinville that started operating in 2009 on the former BNSF Railway's Woodinville Subdivision. The other line, Meeker Southern, runs 5 mi (8.0 km) from Puyallup to McMillan, Washington.

Recently, the Woodinville City Council sent a letter to Kirkland requesting that Kirkland delay removal of the tracks until the Eastside Rail Corridor Regional Advisory Council presents recommendations for the entire corridor this summer.

In addition to the injunction, Ballard has filed a petition with the federal Surface Transportation Board (“STB”) seeking to reactivate the Eastside Rail Corridor for freight service from Woodinville to Bellevue, the city said in a letter to residents.

Following is the full letter from the city:

Dear Community Member,

It is with great disappointment that I share with you that the City of Kirkland was served on April 1, 2013 with a Federal lawsuit which seeks to stop the City from removing the rail tracks and ties along the Cross Kirkland Corridor. The lawsuit was filed by Ballard Terminal Railroad Company (“Ballard”) in Federal District Court in the Western District of Washington. In addition to the injunction, Ballard has filed a petition with the federal Surface Transportation Board (“STB”) seeking to reactivate the Eastside Rail Corridor for freight service from Woodinville to Bellevue, WA. These actions make it necessary for the City to carefully evaluate Ballard’s claims and to consider our legal options.

As you may be aware, the City has hired a contractor to remove the rails to make way for an Interim Trail along the Cross Kirkland Corridor. The removal has been anticipated to begin this month; with construction of the Interim Trail to begin this fall. We intend to keep with the community’s desire to allow use of the trail as soon as possible, even if it requires us to put our plans on hold as we take time to better understand the impacts of the lawsuit and petition.

The Cross Kirkland Corridor is 5.75 miles of the 44+ mile Eastside Rail Corridor (ERC). Apart from the segments owned by the City of Kirkland and the City of Redmond, the ERC has been recently acquired by King County.

It is our initial understanding that Ballard seeks to keep Kirkland from removing the rails on our Corridor so that freight use can be re-established. We are hopeful that the Federal District Court will rule on the injunction case in the coming weeks and that the STB decision regarding Ballard’s request to reactivate our Corridor as a freight (not transit or excursion train) corridor will also be expedited.

We are confident that Kirkland will ultimately be able to carry out our citizens’ vision for the Corridor. However, there are many complexities to this issue and your understanding and patience is appreciated. Updates will be released through the City’s email notification subscriber lists and posted to the Cross Kirkland Corridor webpage at www.kirklandwa.gov/crosskirklandcorridor.

If you have a specific question, please send it to Pam Bissonnette, Director, Public Works Department, at 425-587-3802 or pbissonnette@kirklandwa.gov.

Sincerely,

Kurt Triplett
City Manager
City of Kirkland

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