This April 2017 photo shows the Alaska Railroad Corporation’s bridge across the Snow River near Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

This April 2017 photo shows the Alaska Railroad Corporation’s bridge across the Snow River near Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Elizabeth Earl/Peninsula Clarion)

Resolution puts Legislature into railroad property dispute

A resolution before the Legislature attempts to put a stake in an ongoing disagreement between the Alaska Railroad Corporation and landowners next to its tracks.

The railroad, which maintains track over more than 400 miles from Resurrection Bay in Seward to Fairbanks, runs through the heart of Alaska’s most populated areas. In some places, the railroad runs through neighborhoods or parallel to popular trails. Completed by the federal government in 1923 and conveyed to the state to be run by the independent state-owned corporation the Alaska Railroad Corporation in 1982, the railroad transports thousands of people and tons of freight every year.

However, in recent years, the railroad’s work to keep people and objects out of its right of way up to about 80 feet from the tracks has caused conflict with neighbors. Neighbors have said the railroad corporation has put up fences, asked property owners to clear land within the right of way easement and clouded ownership titles over land disputes. Railroad administrators say they have an exclusive use easement and need to exert exclusive authority to keep pedestrians and operations safe.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Rep. Chuck Kopp (R-Anchorage) is asking the Legislature to step in with House Joint Resolution 38 this session.

“Hundreds of landowners along the Alaska Railroad Corporation’s right-of-way have had property rights confiscated and a cloud put on their title through an unlawful exclusive use easement claim the Alaska Railroad makes to the entire right-of-way,” he said during an April 6 hearing before the House Judiciary Committee.

HJR 38 would state that the Legislature views any exclusive-use easement transferred by the federal government in 1982 on private property to be illegal, would have to be disclosed and urges Alaska’s congressional delegation to correct the situation. Kopp said there are more than 200 people affected by the land conflict.

Property owners have said the U.S. Department of the Interior amended their original homestead patents, issued before the railroad was transferred to the state under the Alaska Railroad Transfer Act, without their knowledge in 2005 and 2006. Fred Rosenberg of Anchorage, who owns the Dimond Capital Company and Red Robin Alaska, wrote in a letter to the Legislature that the railroad charged him to store snow in the easement, which is technically on his property.

“I want to assure you and the Alaska Railroad that we will continue to work with the Alaska Railroad in a positive way to ensure the safety and transportation opportunities as they occur,” he wrote. “However, I believe that the Alaska Railroad has abridged my private property rights and that those rights should be restored.”

Railroad representatives maintain that the exclusive-use easement is legal in part because the federal government owned most of the railroad’s right-of-way in a fee simple title and had at least an exclusive-use easement in all of it was transferred, according to a document the corporation submitted to the legislature. The language in the railroad transfer act was clear that Congress intended to transfer exclusive use anyway, the document states.

Bill O’Leary, the president and CEO of the railroad corporation, said during the April 6 hearing that the Legislature isn’t the right place for the dispute to be resolved anyway — the court is.

“When it comes to a situation where reasonable people disagree about the nuances of a law, a court of law is where the decision on that point of law should be made,” he said.

People already trespass on the tracks, endangering themselves and railroad operations, O’Leary said. Without exclusive rights to the right-of-way, the railroad may have to slow some speeds because the operators may not know what’s coming down the track, he said.

“If the right of way is turned into a checkerboard of control from Seward to Fairbanks, we can’t make that assumption (of a clear right-of-way),” he said. “We may be forced to reduce our speeds … making it impossible to meet our commitments.”

It would also likely impact the railroad economically, O’Leary said. Petro Star Refinery CEO and President Doug Chapados wrote in a letter to the Legislature opposing the resolution that restricting the exclusive-use easement could impede expansion into the Interior. The General Teamsters Local 959 wrote in a letter opposing the resolution that it would reduce revenue to the railroad, which has already lost revenue in the past several years amid the ongoing state recession.

Recreational users are concerned, too. The Anchorage Snowmobile Club wrote in a letter of support that the Alaska Railroad Corporation has limited access to crossing its tracks before. Boaters on the eastern Kenai Peninsula were frustrated in summer 2016 after the Alaska Railroad Corporation welded a gate shut, blocking off an access point that boaters had frequently used to reach the water. Railroad representatives cited safety concerns about people trespassing in the right-of-way, which runs alongside the lake.

Rep. Lora Reinbold (R-Eagle River) said in the hearing that she wanted the railroad to consider traditional uses that occur in its right of way, including recreational.

“I think as a state we need to set an example and be good neighbors,” she said.

The House voted to support the resolution on April 20 and sent it to the Senate, where it is currently before the Senate Transportation Committee.

Reach Elizabeth Earl at eearl@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia during a joint news conference in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. President Trump is pushing to end the war in Ukraine, but analysts say the Russian leader could turn a hastily-planned meeting to his advantage. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)
Trump to meet Putin at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage

Trump was expected to make what amounted to a day trip to Alaska to meet with Putin.

Civil Air Patrol Cadet 1st Lt. Hugh Traugott (right) works with Cadet Airman First Class Audrey Crocker (left) during a statewide training exercise on disaster response on Aug. 9-10, 2025, in Homer, Alaska.
Civil Air Patrol practices disaster response

Homer cadets and senior members were part of a statewide exercise last weekend.

Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly president, Peter Ribbens, speaks in an aside to District 8 representative and Vice President Kelly Cooper before the beginning of the Aug. 5, 2025, KPB Assembly meeting at the Porcupine Theater in Homer, Alaska. (Chloe Pleznac/Homer News)
Voters to decide on borough sales tax cap increase

Assembly Ordinance 2025-14 aims to adjust the sales tax cap with inflation.

A voter fills out their ballot at the Kenai No. 2 Precinct in the Challenger Learning Center of Alaska in Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Few candidates have filed for upcoming election

The filing period for candidacy applications across all six electoral races closes at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15.

President Zen Kelly speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, May 5, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
KPBSD reverses some activity stipend cuts, raises fees

The district’s final budget adopted in July called for a halving of all activity stipends.

Joel Johnson, president of the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation; Carrie Hourman, lead sustainability director for Dow Climate & Circularity; and Susan Sherman, executive director of the Marine Debris Foundation, sit for a panel at the Kenai River Sportfishing Association’s Kenai Classic Roundtable at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska, on Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Annual Kenai Classic Roundtable to focus on Alaska king salmon

The event will be held from noon to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 20, in the Soldotna Field House.

Kenai City Hall is seen on a sunny Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Kenai to inventory roads, streetlights

The projects will identify the condition of the respective city infrastructure and identify possible “major deficiencies,” officials said.

The Soldotna Field House is seen on a sunny Monday, March 31, 2025, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Grand opening for Soldotna Field House on Saturday

Though the field house will be opened this weekend, it will not open to general public operations for a couple more weeks.

A road closed sign stands at the Kenai River flats turnoff in Kenai, Alaska, on Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. (Jonas Oyoumick/Peninsula Clarion)
Bridge Access pullout closed for construction

Located on the west side of Bridge Access Road, the pullout provides access to the Kenai River and flats.

Most Read

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in