Officials from two counties and Port Freeport formed the Brazoria Fort Bend Rail District in July to consider a plan for a short-line railroad from Port Freeport to Rosenberg. The rail line would accommodate an anticipated increase in shipping as a result of the ongoing Panama Canal expansion. Fort Bend and Waller counties are also looking at the possibility of expanding Hwy. 36 to help manage a potential spike in truck traffic from the increased trade. “The Port of Freeport can expand and accommodate the big ships coming out of the Panama Canal,” Fort Bend Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers said. “If we build the short-line railroad and Hwy. 36A it would [have] a significant impact, not just in Brazoria, Fort Bend and Waller [counties] but also the [Greater Houston] area and the state as a whole.” The $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion project—which began in 2007—will be complete in April 2016. The plan for the rail line is undergoing a $600,000 feasibility study funded by Brazoria and Fort Bend counties and Port Freeport, Brazoria County Judge Matt Sebesta said. There is no timeline or design for the project at this time. BFBRD has the ability to build the rail line privately or through a contractor, Brazoria County District Attorney Mary Shine said. However, the district will not be able to create a tax or use taxes to fund the project. “Most likely what they would do is look for a railroad [company] to build the structure for some kind of exchange for services, or something to that effect,” she said. If needed, the district would be able to use eminent domain to acquire the land needed for the path of the rail line, Shine said. The rail line would most likely run west through Rosenberg to Kendleton, Texas, Sebesta said. The five-member rail district—composed of two representatives each from Fort Bend County and Port Freeport and one from Brazoria County—had not met as of Aug. 31. Michael Siwierka, a partner at Perdue, Brandon, Fielder, Collins & Mott, represents Fort Bend County on the district. Siwierka said he anticipates the group’s first action will be to establish bylaws. He said he hopes the rail district will have a positive effect on both the local and state economies. “We have, I think, an opportunity to handle more shipping from overseas from trade partners and the like, and I would imagine that this would benefit eventually all of Texas,” Siwierka said. Sebesta, who helped form BFBRD, said the rail line would also potentially help alleviate increasing traffic counts. He said demographers have estimated the population of the region, which is around 6 million, will grow to 10 million by 2040. “It just doesn’t make sense to keep putting everything on trucks,” Sebesta said. “We need to do everything we can do in the future to get as much of that onto the rail and off the roads.”