Brakes have been put on removal of a low rail trestle over Glass Road at the request of Kansas City Southern Railway based on belief the Warren County project might violate federal law.

Overtaken long ago by grass and vegetation, the trestle has not been used by trains in years. District 4 Supervisor Bill Lauderdale, who took office in January, called the overpass a hazard to traffic and ordered it torn down. Preliminaries started last week.

“I thought that since it was on our right of way, we could remove it,” Lauderdale said. “Unfortunately, I was wrong.”

On paper, KCS still owns the spur that extends south from its main east-west line and likely has the final say on when and whom can remove it.

According to federal regulators, the trestle is five one-hundredths of a mile inside a 4.25-mile area slated for abandonment by the railroad.

The larger situation includes attempts of an area industry, Foam Packaging Inc., to continue rail service to its plant on U.S. 61 South.

A Dec. 12 ruling by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, an administrative arm of the U.S. Department of Transportation, cleared the way for the plastics and foam container company and a Maryland-based man, James Riffin, to purchase the entire section of rail. That ruling also put the brakes on a deal involving the City of Vicksburg to be the funding conduit that would lead to Lakes Entertainment owning some of the right-of-way or its eventual use as a public area.

Filings in recent weeks with the transportation board show the agency has given Foam Packaging president Raymond B. English and businessman and rail carrier Riffin more time to come up with agreeable dollar figures.

The county’s action on Glass Road would not block service to Foam Packaging, which is north of the trestle, but who has rights to do what along the spur.

“Foam Packaging has the absolute right to purchase (the line),” Riffin said, adding Warren County “doesn’t have a right” to take down the Glass Road trestle.

In a supplement filed with STB Tuesday and signed by English and Riffin, the two men, in a joint offer, asked the railroad authority to value the rail property at $4,500 per acre minus the replacement value of the “unlawfully removed Glass Road railroad bridge,” plus other unspecified methods of relief termed “other and further relief that would be appropriate and just.”

Also contained in the filing is a request to STB to order an investigation as to how Warren County assumed authority to remove the trestle, an act Riffin said violates federal law governing active railroad lines.

In a phone conversation with District 5 Supervisor Richard George, board president, relayed by Riffin to federal officials, numerous conversations were held between the county and KCS over removing the treste and eliminating the 9.5-foot clearance, which even small vehicles pass through with great care.

Wednesday, George and Lauderdale recalled talks with KCS, with Lauderdale saying talks go back a long way. While heeding the call from railroad legal counsel, he said the roadway needs to be cleared for increasing industrial use. LeTourneau is nearby and the area is near the Mississippi entry point for the Southeast Supply Header natural gas transmission line, which will extend under the Mississippi River.

“Already, I’ve heard people can’t get through there,” Lauderdale said.

English was not available this week, but in the past has said his firm would face substantially higher costs if it had to truck in raw materials and if periodic rail service was not available. Federal rules place strong emphasis on keeping service to industries that use rails, even if rail companies want to abandon the lines as unprofitable.

The Lakes Entertainment deal, requiring legislative approval, was sought to give the proposed hotel and casino project clear access from U.S. 61 and was considered a done deal by the parties, despite the adverse impact on Foam Packaging. But a New Jersey-based firm, CNJ Rail Corp., provided counsel to Foam Packaging in its efforts to head off the plans of the city and casino company and won its case before the regulatory agency.

Published reports in 2007 showed CNJ active in similar cases nationwide, including a 2.2-mile section of track near Baltimore.

Riffin qualified as a Class III, or short-line, railroad in 2006 after acquiring a spur line from CSX in western Maryland to continue rail service to property he owns. Riffin told the Baltimore City Paper he wants to buy the line to help move Maryland’s shipping emphasis off trucks and onto rail. CNJ was a confirmed interest in running the line as a third party.

The transportation board ruled against Riffin in the matter, which has not been appealed to date. STB officials said Wednesday a decision on terms involving the section of track in Warren County is expected in 30 days.