By Eric Berger

The owners of an Oklahoma railroad shuttered by federal regulators over a series of safety violations by its contract operator are seeking an emergency service order to allow Rock Island Rail to run the short line. 

The Federal Railroad Administration issued a rare emergency order shutting down the Blackwell Northern Gateway Railroad earlier this month after it was accused of not reporting derailments, falsifying documents and lying to federal inspectors. 

The shortline covers roughly 37 miles of mostly ex-Santa Fe track between Blackwell, Okla. and the BNSF mainline in Wellington, Kan., with a short stretch of Frisco trackage in Blackwell. Ownership of the line is split between the Oklahoma Department of Transportation and Blackwell Industrial Authority. The owners jointly filed a petition Monday with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board asking that Mississppi-based Rock Island Rail be allowed to provide service on the Blackwell line for at least 30 days or until a new lease is awarded. The petitioners asked STB to rule quickly, citing the urgent needs of two shippers on the line.

In the STB filing, the track owners assert that BNGR is unlikely to regain authority to operate and that the situation created by the shutdown entitles them to terminate the lease with 90 days’ notice and seek an outside operator to restore service on a temporary basis until a new lease is in place.

Robert J. Riley, president and CEO of Rock Island, told Railfan & Railroad this week that his company will begin operations on the Blackwell line as soon as STB approves the emergency order. He said a new shortline will be formed to operate the line as a Rock Island subsidiary if the company is selected as its next contract operator, using locomotives from the corporate fleet, most of which sport the blue and white paint scheme used in the 1970s by the original Rock Island.