Houston needs follow-through with rail desires

Plans to build a railroad spur to Point MacKenzie are chugging along, and it’s time for interested communities to get aboard.

The rail route will be anywhere from 25 to 40 miles long, depending on whether it starts in Houston, Willow or Big Lake. While Willow representatives have spurned the spur with a lukewarm reception, some Houston city leaders are waving flags in the hope the train will stop in their community, complete with a depot.

While it is too early to put details to the new rail line plans, it isn’t too early for an interested community like Houston to conceptualize how the railroad could benefit its community. City council members are already lobbying for the Borough and Alaska Railroad to seat the spur there and are eager for the advantages a rail line originating in Houston could bring.

Some businesses could benefit greatly from having rail access. More importantly, city officials believe rail could be just the ticket Houston needs to stoke it’s boilers as a viable place to locate new business and industry. They may be on the right track. We are certain the wheels are spinning among some leaders in Houston as they consider the potential.

What Houston needs now is to be more proactive in luring the rail spur. Don’t stop at simply saying, “Hey, over here!” Develop a rail plan. If economic development is the key to Houston’s success, invest in an economic development coordinator to help draft a plan that specifically spells out how Houston and the Mat-Su Borough could use rail access and a depot as a vehicle to chug more industry and wealth into Houston and the Valley.

Houston may want to be Alaska’s version of “The Little Engine That Could,” but will need more than an “I think I can” approach to make believers out of the Borough and railroad.

The council expects to examine the railroad issue again at its Nov. 15 meeting. Perhaps by that time, it will be ready to assign to committee or other body some of the preliminary work of pushing Houston’s agenda in regard to the railroad. While final plans aren’t expected until December, Houston can influence the process by putting initiative to its interest.

The same is true for residents of Big Lake or Willow (although meetings in Willow indicate that community would prefer the rail locate elsewhere). Perhaps by starting in Houston and running a route favorable to Big Lake, the railroad spur could aid both communities and still reach its destination in Point MacKenzie.