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September 8, 2004Railroad revokes dinner train's rightsCompany maintains its service is safeByRecord-Eagle staff writer TRAVERSE CITY - The Grand Traverse Dinner Train Company is stuck at the station over a contract dispute. The dinner train's lawyers filed suit in Grand Traverse County Circuit Court after Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railroad Co. revoked the company's right to use the line Tuscola operates under a state lease. James E. Shepherd, CEO and majority shareholder of the Owosso-based railway company, said the Grand Traverse Dinner Train owes thousands of dollars and he accused the business of keeping unsafe cars on its line for nearly a year. "They are in financial default, and, according to the safety standards in our contract, they are in default in that as well," he said. "I am not letting them run because they take unsafe equipment out with passengers on our line ... it would be unconscionable for me to allow that." Tuscola's general counsel Phillip Maxwell said the company will ask the court for the nearly $20,000 it alleges it is owed. Tuscola also wants the court to terminate the dinner train contract. Grand Traverse Dinner Train President Ella Cooper called the revocation of its line use unfounded. Her company wants restitution for lost revenue and access to the line as it prepares for its busiest season. "I think it is simply a contract dispute and our company complies with all safety standards," she said. "The amounts they are implying are inflated." Grand Traverse Dinner Train has offered dinner and lunch tours in vintage rail cars since 1996. It is contractually required to pay $600 each day it conducts tours on the line. Cooper said the dinner train was not scheduled to run this week because of state rail work, but expects the train will be rolling again this weekend. Maxwell said the Federal Railroad Administration previously found the train cars weren't safe to operate. "We are unwilling to have unsafe coaches operate over our railroads, not unless (Cooper) maintains the equipment, which historically she hasn't," he said. Dinner train attorney Jason Eckerly said a third party inspected the train over the Labor Day weekend and found it was safe for operation. The train literally was derailed late last month after a coach jumped the track as it was being moved from one line to another. Cooper believes that incident prompted the contract. "Our position is that the rail was poorly maintained and the recent activities are all a result out of that," she said. "We believe our equipment is safe ... any safety issues they claim existed don't exist at this time."
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