Train tracks which have long sat dormant will have new life at the new year. Trains in south Lincoln will once again become a common sight and sound.
A partnership between BNSF Railroad and OPPD will have coal cars travel on the tracks parallel to highway 2 en route to Nebraska City.
“I think it is wonderful to see rails reenergized,” Councilwoman Sondra Washington said.
Railroad Transportation Safety District Executive Director Roger Figard told a combined meeting of the Lincoln City Council and the Lancaster County Board of Commissioners that trains will run overnight to miss the evening and morning rush hours.
“They’ll stage those trains in hops and yards. They’ll start them after the evening rush in Nebraska City, get down there over night, unload and comeback and be back before the morning rush starts,” he said.
Figard says railroad officials plan to have 300 trains run per year over six days a week. They’ll begin January 1.
“For some of us that’s going to be a shock. We haven’t had trains running up and down Highway 2 for some time,” Figard said.