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Kremmling looks to reopen Union Pacific rail access point

Janice Kurbjun
summit daily news

Negotiations are ongoing between Union Pacific and West Range Reclamation to iron out the details of reopening a loading site in town.

West Range Reclamation is a forest and rangeland management company out of Crawford.

The railhead site was decommissioned sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Mayor Tom Clark said. Bringing it back meets the needs of end users – in this case, paper mills in the Northwest who need more supply – and suppliers, such as loggers, who need a cheaper shipping method.



“Rail is the cheapest way to transport material because we don’t have boats or barges,” Clark said, adding that trucking is the much more expensive alternative.

It’s also a way to help utilize timber killed by the pine beetle. The ongoing question for foresters is how to remove the wood and put it to good use rather than let it go up in flames. But to make the solutions more complex, it’s expensive to transport the timber.



The railhead site would be a TeamTrack location, which essentially means one business would be the anchor and would guarantee a certain railcar capacity, Clark said. Other businesses could then also tap into the railhead for hauling – as long as they meet certain volume requirements.


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