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The Mount Pleasant former Luminant Property Courtesy/ Vistra Energy LLC
Mount Pleasant Luminant property will play large role
The Northeast Texas Rural Rail Transportation District (NETEX) is hearing bids for rail revitalization in advance of their monthly May meeting.
On April 30, a group comprised of executive committee members Neal Barker (Hopkins County), Brian Lee (Titus County), Cheryl Williams (Collin County) and Paul Burt (Delta County) as well as ex-officio member Bonnie Hunter (Hunt County) and attorney Ron Stutes assembled at the Hopkins County courthouse to hear a proposal from Rock Island Rail.
This marked the fourth such independent proposal, according to Lee. Blacklands proposal, occurring sometime this week, will make five proposals total.
“This is part of a process we’re going through, interviewing different potential rail operators, including Blacklands Railroad and PublicWerks,” Lee stated. PublicWerks is also known by the name Sabine RailWerks, who appeared before the NETEX board in March to propose a $42 million investment in the shortline.
NETEX would not further disclose to the News-Telegram with which operators they had met.
Also ongoing for NETEX is the related bidding process for Mount Pleasant’s former Luminant property, which contains approximately 32 miles of useable rail track as well as eight bridges and trestles and two public rail crossings, according to Luminant documents.
The rail line interchanges with Union Pacific/ Blacklands in the north and Kansas City Southern in the south, and stretches from Pittsburg to Winfield on both sides of Interstate 30. A valuable piece of property, both Blacklands/ Sabine RailWerks and the city of Mount Pleasant are two of the limited number of stakeholders allowed to submit bids for the property, both entities confirm.
The final decision on the Mount Pleasant Luminant property will be reached by approximately May 29 or later, according to documents.