Coal train really most sincerely dead




State Sen. Mike McGuire

State Sen. Mike McGuire

HUMBOLDT – An unpopular proposal to use the rail corridor slated to become the Great Redwood Trail for hauling coal is officially dead.

It had appeared so on June 1, when Senator Mike McGuire announced that “we have finally put a nail in the coffin of big coal.”

He said the company seeking to transport coal on the unused rail line failed to file a federal application by a May 31 deadline.

But it turned out that the corporation seeking to use the rail line for coal transport – the North Coast Railroad Company, LLC – submitted an application to the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) on June 1 and requested that it be considered.

The company claimed that “unforeseen vacation travel delays” led to the late filing.

On June 10, the STB rejected the late application because the company had not “articulated a sufficient reason why its notice could not have been filed by the May 31 deadline.”

The STB also rejected an application to use the Humboldt Bay segment of the rail line for recreational and tourist-oriented excursions.

A third application, from the rail company that runs the Fort Bragg-based Skunk Train tourist excursion, is accepted by the STB.

The company, Mendocino Railway, requests approval to use a 13-mile section of the rail line in the Willits area to haul gravel.