City officials have taken an important step to push for changes from the railroad company responsible for Portland’s worst traffic nightmare.
The city on June 12 filed a notice of intent to comment on a planned merger involving Union Pacific, the nation’s largest railroad in revenue and operator of three-mile-long freight trains that every day crawl through the Central Eastside, blocking crossings at SE 8th, 11th and 12th avenues, often for hours at a time.
If its merger with Norfolk Southern Railway wins federal approval, UP estimates train activity on the Central Eastside would increase by 22%…