V&T lacking steel and wood

Much of the rail recycled from the Reno retrack project is not suitable for use on the Virginia & Truckee Railway, an engineer working on the project said.

The Nevada Commission for the Reconstruction of the V&T Railway obtained four miles of track from the Reno trench project in 2003 and has been storing it ever since, at a cost of about $6,000 a month. A little more than a mile of that track was used to build the first phase of the project.

The commission decided this week to hire a salvage contractor to separate out the unusable rail and ties from the stockpile. The unusable steel will be sold for a profit.

Ken Dorr, principal engineer with Capital Engineering, said almost all of the good rail and ties were used for phase 1 of the reconstruction project, which required 1.4 miles of track from the Gold Hill Depot to American Flat.

That phase of the project was completed in September. Dorr said another 14 miles of track must be purchased to complete the project.

The 18-mile tourist track between Virginia City and Carson City is expected to be completed by 2009 at a cost of about $40 million. The railway will connect to existing track now running from Gold Hill to Virginia City.

Dorr said the Reno retrack rails are much heavier than what the commission needs for the tourist line. He said much of the rail is worn out from years of heavy freight use.

"Of the rail left, if all of it is good, which it's not, there is only a mile of track left to build the track and we still need another 14 miles of rail," he said. "So more rail needs to be acquired."

Dorr said he hopes the commission can get donated rails. There is plenty of used rail around the country, but so far no one has offered it. Steel is selling at a premium. Buying 14 miles of it will be expensive.

"That will be the single most expensive component of reconstruction the railroad," Dorr said.

He couldn't nail down an exact cost because the cost of steel fluctuates.

Chairman Bob Hadfield said the commission needs to focus its resources on construction, rather than storing materials it can't use.

"We need to accelerate construction because costs are increasing," he said.

And funds are decreasing. The $10 million grant the commission thought it was going to get from the federal transportation bill was recently slashed by $1.2 million.

• In other business, the commission chose Stone Consulting & Design Inc. to lead its cross-country search for an operator for the reconstructed railway.

The consultant, based in Warren, Penn., will write the request for proposals and direct it toward qualified railroad operators.

-- Contact reporter Becky Bosshart at bbosshart@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.