County looking for answers from CPKC Railroad

Foster County commissioners appear to be growing impatient with the Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) Railway.

At the commission's regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 17, Commissioner Alan Scanson said he has reached out to the N.D. Public Service Commission in hopes of facilitating a meeting between the commission and representatives of CPKC, after not hearing back from them regarding reimbursement.

Commissioners last spoke to representatives of the railroad company in person at their September 9 regular meeting, where early discussions took place about getting reimbursed for the damage to roads caused by the Bordulac train derailment and subsequent cleanup effort.

It was agreed at the meeting that they'd be in contact as needed. However, the commission now says they haven't been able to get a response from the company since sending information the railroad requested for determining reimbursement.

Scanson said the county's engineer, Wold Engineering, has assessed the damage to roadways – namely the Bordulac and Murphy roads – and has sent that information to the railroad. And so far they haven't heard back.

"We're just looking for some kind of response, period," said Scanson.

The county had also requested information about truck traffic on county roads during the cleanup effort, Scanson said, but they only received a number of trucks that had been used in the cleanup, rather than information about how many loads they carried or some way of determining the amount of truck traffic.

The commission had previously tried to schedule an in-person meeting with CPKC officials during their December 3 regular meeting in hopes of getting answers, but Commissioner David Utke said the response from the railroad was to push the meeting to another time.

"At our second November meeting this board requested them to attend our first December meeting, and I got a response in a couple of days that 'maybe in January,'" said Utke.

The commission agreed to keep pushing for answers sooner rather than later, and Scanson said he had already contacted the Public Service Commission – a state agency that oversees railroads in North Dakota – in hopes that involving the state could lead to a response.

If that doesn't work, the possibility of involving N.D. District 29 Senator, Terry Wanzek, was also brought up at Tuesday's meeting.

"In my experience with this I think you've got to get after them and keep after them," said Commissioner Pat Copenhaver.

In other business from Tuesday's meeting, commissioners interviewed and hired Wold Engineering to engineer removal of the Old Wright Bridge southwest of Grace City. Wold Engineering was the only firm to submit a bid.

Additionally, Gowan Construction was the low bidder for removal of the bridge itself, at $111,788.60, and commissioners unanimously carried a motion to accept their bid.

Both the engineering and construction costs for removal of the bridge will be 100% covered by state funds.