A Maryland-based short-rail line operator stands to become the sole owner of rail lines over the partially dismantled Glass Road trestle.

While more talks over closing and legal costs will continue, the result could mean a return of commercial rail service to industries south of Vicksburg.

A Monday deadline passed with no objection by James Riffin on terms set by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board concerning the lower 2 miles of a 4.25-mile section of track to be abandoned by Kansas City Southern Railway.

Prices set by the agency were $376,320 for a 1.9-mile segment of rail line jointly sought by Riffin and Foam Packaging President Raymond B. English and $128,295 sought by Riffin individually for the remaining 2.35 miles, including the Glass Road trestle.

“We’re going to accept it,” Riffin said Monday.

A deadline of March 3 was stayed after the board allowed English and Riffin more time to seek “an opportunity for discovery” regarding the low, 9 1/2-foot bridge.

Since a Feb. 22 decision setting the terms, English and Riffin filed numerous briefs seeking to modify the terms. Among them was a request for offsets totaling $237,610 to reflect expected cost increases stemming from Warren County road crews’ halted demolition of the trestle.

KCS has until April 14 to respond to the compensation request.

Abandonment proceedings have continued since December, when STB ruled Foam Packaging — as the line’s lone industrial user — had first rights to buy the line from KCS. That ruling put the skids on a deal struck by the City of Vicksburg to own some of the right-of-way as part of the planned Lakes Entertainment casino resort. That project, which still faces winning approval of its financing information by the state Gaming Commission, was to gain title from the city to portions of the right-of-way, remove the track and allow ingress and egress without crossing train tracks. City officials sought and won legislative approval to act as a funding conduit in the deal.

All or part of the land would land back in the city’s hands for use under the National Trails System Act, which the agency has held in abeyance until completion of the buyout process, depending on how the Lakes project, near Warrenton, proceeded. Foam Packaging would have been the lone firm losing rail service from KCS under that deal. The action before the federal regulatory board followed a bid to keep rail shipments of raw materials going to the plant.

In KCS filings in the case, the trestle dates to 1923 and is the last of four on the route considered for abandonment still in service on paper. Its track overgrown by grass and vegetation, traffic on the road under the low trestle has been limited and the trestle has long been an impediment to emergency vehicles trying to reach homes along Glass Road.

Access to LeTourneau Technologies shipyard had also been affected by the trestle. Riffin said the shipyard could benefit from rail service instead of truck deliveries of its steel because of the high cost of diesel fuel.

“There wasn’t a bloody thing wrong with that bridge,” Riffin said.

Acting on a verbal agreement from other board members, District 4 Supervisor Bill Lauderdale instructed county workers to take down portions of the bridge on county right-of-way. Work began Jan. 30 but was halted within a week after county officials were alerted to possible violations of federal law.

In its February decision, STB concluded the county and KCS should handle the matter separately.

Lauderdale expressed doubts Monday whether the rail line could be brought up to modern standards without tremendous cost.

“It would have to be on today’s standards and not from the 1920s,” Lauderdale said, adding he still plans to talk to all parties involved concerning emergency access and public safety.

Additional conditions put forth by English and Riffin denied for information by STB, including motions to equally distribute closing costs and to have payments put in escrow while repair costs regarding the Glass Road trestle were determined.

English and Riffin cite a 2002 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision involving an abandonment case in the upper Midwest in their quest for exclusive rights to determine all conditions of the buyout.

Riffin said the cost of old claims from KCS’ buyout of MidSouth Rail Corp. in the early 1990s could be passed on as a result of the terms.

Expert statements from engineering and retired railroad officials supplemented English and Riffin’s recent filings, including one from Vicksburg-based Carpenter Engineering Inc.