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May 27, 2005
YUCCA MOUNTAIN Commercial use of railroad possiblePVT Nye County prepared the report as part of ongoing research to the U.S. Department of Energy's proposed 'Nevada Rail' line between Caliente and Yucca Mountain. The rail line is proposed to transport nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel for long-term storage. Commercial freight operations would share the tracks on the line but would otherwise be completely separate from any nuclear waste rail shipments. The study team interviewed business development officials from the three counties, as well as existing shippers along the proposed line that could be served by a commercial freight rail operation. From the interviews, the study team forecast that a commercial freight rail operation could carry between 660,000 tons and 3.5 million tons of freight per year - freight that could be shipped more economically by rail than by truck. The higher figure assumed the development of a coal-fired power generation plant at Pioche, north of Caliente. The tonnage figures represent potential annual transportation cost savings of between $18.4 million and $97.4 million. It estimates that between 424 and 2,239 new jobs would be created as a result of the economies offered by commercial freight operations. The commercial rail operation itself would generate between eight and 14 new jobs in the areas of train operations, maintenance, and rail service administration. The study also predicted that diverting freight from truck to rail would reduce congestion, road maintenance and accidents, and suggested that these savings be the subject of a subsequent analysis. |
