Eagle Mountain Railroad - The Future

The Future

Shortly after the last iron-ore had been shipped out in 1986, the California Department of Corrections proposed placing a privately operated prison for low-risk inmates at Eagle Mountain. In 1988, Management and Training Corporation, an operator of several private-run prisons, converted the old shopping center into just such a facility. State budget problems led to the closure of the prison on December 31, 2003. While talks resumed in 2005 to reopen the facility, as of 2008, no agreement to reopen has been made.

1988 saw the proposal to turn one of the gigantic 1.5 mile (2.4 km) long by half-mile (800 m) wide mining pits into a massive, high-tech sanitary landfill. The landfill, to be operated by a partnership of two privately operated trash collection firms and the successor to Kaiser Steel, Kaiser Ventures, would ship trash by train from metropolitan Los Angeles area via the Eagle Mountain Railroad. The Riverside County Board of Supervisors approved the project in October 1992 after EPA approval of the project. Due to numerous lawsuits regarding the environmental effects of the landfill, the project was repeatedly delayed. The private partnership decided in late 1999 to give up on the project. Their share of the project was brought out by Kaiser Ventures, making it controlling owner of the project.

In August 2000, Kaiser Ventures reached an agreement with the Los Angeles Sanitation Districts, a public entity consisting of several Los Angeles public waste collection agencies, to purchase the landfill project to replace there Puente Hills Landfill, which would be nearing the end of its useful life shortly. However, since the sale agreement states that all lawsuits and claims regarding the project must be completed, the transaction has yet to begin. As of 2009, there was only one lawsuit still pending. However, much has changed since in the waste business since 2000. A reduction in waste generated because of recycling has made the new landfill less urgently needed. In addition, the Los Angeles Sanitation Districts has purchased another landfill site in adjacent Imperial County that is fully licensed and ready to go. It is unclear if the Sanitation Districts still intends to make Eagle Mountain a landfill.

The railroad has remained relatively untouched since the last ore train operated in 1986. However, the large ore loading tower at Eagle Mountain was removed in 1990. Kaiser Ventures conducted maintenance work and routine repairs to the rail line in the mid-1990s. To accomplish this, a single switcher locomotive (painted for Kaiser Ventures) was brought to the property to operate small work trains. When this work was completed, the locomotive was stored at Eagle Mountain for a short time before being moved to the old Fontana Mill site where it remained stored.

In August and September 2003, the railroad suffered severe damage to approximately ten miles of track when two flash floods hit the railroad. In several locations, culverts were washed out leaving track suspended in the air. In other locations, silt up to 10 feet (3.0 m) deep covers the tracks. No significant structures were damaged as all bridges held up well to the flood waters. Kaiser Ventures estimates it will cost about $3.5 million dollars to repair this damage. During the next two years, a contractor conducted work along the entire line to culverts and protective devertion dikes to prevent any further damage, but the damaged sections remain as Kaiser Ventures has decided to postpone repairs until a future date when funds are available.

In November 2009, Kaiser Ventures received a disappointing ruling from the Federal Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit on the only remaining lawsuit against the project. This ruling places the entire project at risk of cancellation, however, a decision on how to proceed has yet to be made.

As of 2012, the entire yard in Ferrum has been removed, completely isolating the line from Union Pacific's Sunset Route.