BROWNSVILLE, Texas - During an in-depth presentation on Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority’s current workload at a recent South Texas Manufacturer’s Association meeting held at the Brownsville Events Center, CCRMA Executive Director Pete Sepulveda spoke about the Harlingen Rail Improvements Project.
The Harlingen Commerce Street rail relocation project will relocate and realign 1.7 miles of track and construct one new crossing at Commerce Street to eliminate seven existing grade crossings in the City of Harlingen. The new track connection will enable the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) Harlingen Subdivision track to connect to the UPRR Brownsville Subdivision, as well as straighten out two curves and plans to safely raise the speed from 10 MPH to 30 MPH to minimize rail congestion through this area.
“Twenty years ago, Cameron County did an agreement with Union Pacific to do grow relocation projects in Cameron County,” Sepulveda said.
One project was to relocate the switch yard from downtown Harlingen to Olmito, he said.
“This was the very first project, 2012 or 2013 more or less, $20 million project, small project, but we took the Union Pacific switch yard away from downtown Harlingen, which opened up downtown, because it used to be that the two streets going into town and going out of town would get blocked four or five times a day for 45 minutes to over an hour, Sepulveda said. “So, by relocating the switch yard, we eliminated that problem.“
The second project was the West Rural project, which involved the relocation of the rail line from downtown Brownsville to a more rural area, he added.
“We're working on the last project in downtown Harlingen by Commerce Street, Sepulveda said. “We're realigning the rail there to make it a lot safer for the operation of Union Pacific.”
That project received a grant from the Federal Railway Administration, Sepulveda said. However, he said that because of price escalations there is a debt of about $7 million.
“We're working with Union Pacific to see how to value engineer the project and try and come within budget,” he added. “And then work with FHA to see if there's any additional federal funds that we can tap into. But it's a good quality of life project for the City of Harlingen.
