Railroad project concerns officials

State regulators are saying “not so fast” to Union Pacific’s plan to add a second track to its main line across southern Arizona, a project that the railroad says will allow more trains to use a route with burgeoning traffic from California ports.

Union Pacific officials said they planned to ask the Arizona Corporation Commission for permission to modify 50 existing road grade-crossings to accommodate the project along the Arizona portion of its Sunset Route main line between Los Angeles and El Paso.

But several commissioners suggested that Union Pacific isn’t taking Arizona’s rapid population growth and safety concerns into account, and that some of the lights-and-gates grade crossings should be converted into overpasses or underpasses. The panel doesn’t have jurisdiction over the project, but its duties include oversight of railroad safety.