The Uinta Basin Railway is a development that is being driven by the Seven County Infrastructure Coalition. The Coalition is currently comprised of seven counties Carbon, Daggett, Duchesne, Emery, San Juan, Sevier and Uintah. Castle Country Radio was able to speak over the telephone with Rio Grande Senior Vice President, Mark Hemphill about the development.

“Uinta Basin Railway is about an 80-mile-long railway that connects to the Union Pacific Railways right near the top of Price River Canyon, where the Emma Park Road branches off U.S. 6 at the top of Price River. It runs through Emma Park, and then through a few tunnels and emerges in Indian Canyon, goes down Indian Canyon almost to Duchesne then turns east and terminates south of Fort Ouray in the Uinta Basin,” stated Hemphill. The purpose for the railway is to enable shipment of oil, hay, sand, gravel, or pot ash that is mined in the Uinta Basin, as well as receive into the basin materials like lumber, cement, and pipe. Right now, the Basin receives their goods that are needed in their area by semi-trucks.

“We started this in 2018, we’re in the middle of our permitting and Federal Environmental Impact Statement process right now. We expect to have that done by this Fall and that’s not quite as fast as we hoped but I think all thing considered it’s very speedy,” said Hemphill. The public comment period for the Federal Environmental Impact Statement closed on February 12. The government received over 650 comments on the development. Developers were very pleased that folks in the Uinta Basin, Carbon and Emery Counties were overwhelming in support of the project.

Right now, the project is working through the Federal Environmental Impact Statement. “Well, we anticipate getting through the final Environmental Impact Statement and having a favorable decision of the Federal Government that will allow us to build the project by September and having our construction permits wrap up about the same time,” said Hemphill. At which point, developers will go into the final design stage, as well as the right away acquisitions stage. This is where developers will go speak with landowners and negotiate terms for access on to their property. The project has been working on some of those acquisitions and they have been going well thus far.