Railroad will 'do no harm'
By SHANNON CRABTREE scrabtree@leader-news.com

Do no harm is the approach Kansas City Southern Railways engineers are taking as they prepare bridge and culvert plans for the returning rail line in Wharton County.

Rail construction on the corridor between Rosenberg and Victoria is continuing with a significant amount of track work complete in western Fort Bend County.

"This is an extremely important part of our railroad," Lee Peek, general director of engineering for KCS, told the gathered crowd of El Campo and Wharton city officials along with county representatives at a meeting Thursday in the El Campo City Hall.

"We need to keep it open and functioning," he added.

County officials along with representatives of Half Associates, the firm overseeing Wharton County's flood mitigation planning, expressed concern over the possible drainage effects of a KCS plan to replace shorter bridges on the line with culverts.

Half officials questioned whether KCS planning had taken into account upstream flood fallout along with Colorado River. KCS is working with data provided by local officials, Peek said, adding, "We're not here to flood out anybody."

Precinct 3 Commissioner Philip Miller said he wanted assurances the drainage space on small bridges would remain the same or increase as KCS returns.

"I'm not an engineer, but I know if you have something square and you put something round in it, it doesn't work," he said, adding he was concerned about the possible domino effect of small round pipe culverts where bridges once were.

"The bigger the pipe the better," Peek said. "We will assure you that we will pass the amount of water we are required to pass."

Three bridge permits have been issued in Wharton County. From Hungerford to south of Louise, there are reportedly 40 bridges on the old rail line. Of those, only 20 are anticipated to remain as bridges. Current plans call for the rest to be converted to culverts.

The city of El Campo is reviewing possible concerns with four bridge crossings in the city limits - near the industrial park, at Vasa Street, at the Tres Palacios and slightly south of there.

In the city of Wharton, concerns are reportedly over crossings at the Colorado River and at Caney Creek as well as the effect on the potential development of a levee through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

KCS is in the process of putting down new track from Rosenberg to the Wharton County line while bridge work has started in East Wharton County. The line will use concrete ties and all modern standards for rail line development, Peek said.

"This will be the best piece of track we have in the country," he added. Once complete, the line will run from Rosenberg to Victoria completing a NAFTA rail line linking the U.S., Canada and Mexico.