Not everyone agrees with bill turning railroad over to private company

LUFKIN — The Texas State Railroad is on track to keep steaming through the East Texas forests between Palestine and Rusk after the Senate Natural Resources Committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 1659 last week.

Contributed photo by Bill Schroeder (enlarge photo) The Texas State Railroad would be transferred from state authority to a group that would include local citizens under Senate Bill 1659, which was unanimously approved by a subcommittee last week. While some believe local control would benefit the railroad, others believe it would be better operated with state funds.

This legislation would essentially transfer authority over the steam-driven trains and the state park from Texas Parks and Wildlife to the people of Anderson and Cherokee counties through the creation of a Texas State Railroad Authority.

"It is basically putting the railroad in local control, because we feel the state has failed," said Palestine Mayor Dr. Carolyn Salter.

The proposed authority would include local citizens, several of whom served on the state-appointed task force charged with creating a rescue plan for the financially troubled dual-city state park.

Palestine and Rusk citizens support regionalizing the parks' operations, Salter said. In her community's eyes, the state has failed in its oversight of the dual East Texas parks, she said.

"The state parks have advocated nothing but turning it into a static display," she said. "They've budgeted $602,000 a year for the next two years."

Yet as much as $12 million to $40 million is needed to repair the tracks — money state park officials have repeatedly stated is unavailable, Salter said.

"The termites are eating the creosote ties. Can you believe that?" she said.

For nearly two years, state parks officials have threatened to shut down the steam engines that carry visitors from Palestine through the East Texas hardwood bottomlands of dogwoods, oaks, and redbuds across the Neches River to its sister terminal in Rusk.

A favorite venue for fundraisers, movie sets, commercial filming and TV shows, the two East Texas parks attracts thousands of visitors annually to their campgrounds, picnic areas and gift shops.

For those traveling from Central Texas to the eastern part of the state, either park makes an ideal rest stop.

It's unlikely, however, that the state's proposed static displays would attract half as many visitors to the rural cities, Salter said while driving back from Austin, where she had testified the prior day.

"Static displays just don't bring people," she said. Stationary exhibits lure people by the hundreds as opposed to the thousands drawn to interactive attractions, she said.

"Everyone on the Palestine city council believes (a static display) would lead to an eventual closure (of both parks)."

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Regional Authority

Over Contract

While many Anderson and Cherokee county residents testified in support of the bill, a few people from Dallas and Jacksonville protested SB 1659, according to Alicia Phillips with Sen. Robert Nichols' office.

The Republican senator from Jacksonville attended and held public hearings on the issue prior to authoring SB 1659.

By transferring jurisdiction over the historic trains and the park to the regional entity, SB 1659 would empower the local authority to hire a private party to operate the railroad park. The railroad itself, however, would remain state property.

"The people of Anderson and Cherokee counties have come together to save this important part of Texas history," Nichols said in a press release. "Community leaders deserve credit for developing a long-term solution for preserving the Texas State Railroad."

Despite the objections of Michael Banks — an original member of the task force — SB 1659 passed through the Senate subcommittee unopposed.

"I think it is a big mistake," Banks said. "I think the railroad would be operated better with state funding. ... I think it will be there for a long time with the state. I think there would be problems with a private operator."

Asked what problems he foresaw, Banks could give no examples. Instead, he turned the focus on the $12 million of general revenue the regional group has requested for repairs to the steam engines and railroad.

The requested repair funds are included in the House general budget, but is not attached to any proposed legislation, according to Phillips.

Banks also insisted that, should American Heritage Railway prove a worse facilitator than the state has, it would mean the end of the line for the historic railroad.

Phillips and Salter disagreed.

"There were four railways that bid for the contract (to operate the railroad parks), so if American Heritage Railway doesn't work out, there are other options," Phillips said.

If American Heritage Railway doesn't meet goals and standards established by the task force/authority for park visitation and ridership, then its contract could be terminated, Salter said.

"It is a contract stacked very much in favor of the (proposed Texas Railroad Authority)," Salter said.

On the other hand, the contract includes incentives for the operator to meet and exceed the regional authority's expectations, such as an increasing percentages of ownership in the trains over time, according to Phillips and Salter.

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Local Investment

"Nobody has come up to me and said they think this is the wrong thing to do. Not once," Salter said. "Only five people (have opposed the plan), and all are from outside the area."

Without new funding or a change in management, Texas Parks and Wildlife intends to park the engines by September.

"We are still pursuing state funding, but every day that passes there is less and less chance it will get funding," Phillips said. "Even if Parks and Wildlife got every single penny of the sporting goods tax revenue, Parks and Wildlife wouldn't fund it because it is pretty far down on their priority list."

What happens, then, if no money is appropriated for the state railroad's rehabilitation by the time legislators head home? asked Phillips, saying that possibility is why SB 1659 is important.

Keeping Texas State Railroad on track is imperative to the surrounding rural communities that have come to benefit from the park's economic fringe benefits, Salter said.

"It won't impact just Anderson and Cherokee counties," she said. "It will impact all the big counties in a 60-mile radius of us."

Like his predecessor, Todd Staples, Nichols said any shutdown would likely be irreversible.

"If the railroad closes, it will be essentially impossible to reopen," Nichols said. "Not only would the cost of restarting it be prohibitive, but needed equipment and specialized knowledge could be lost."

Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, has sponsored an identical bill in the House — HB 3113.

To learn more about the train, visit www.tpwd.state.tx.us/park/railroad/.