More than 40 government officials, railroad shippers and community members have signed up to speak at Thursday’s Coos Bay rail line hearing in Eugene.

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board released a schedule of speakers Friday, giving the podium to elected officials first, while private citizens get the last word.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski and Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., are the first to speak and will each get 15 minutes.

Following them will be state senators Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene; Joanne Verger, D-Coos Bay; Jeff Kruse, R-Roseburg; and state representatives Susan Morgan, R-Myrtle Creek; Bruce Hanna, R-Roseburg; and Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay.

Tom Younker, representing the Coquille Indian Tribe; Louise Solliday, director of the Oregon Department of State Lands; and Keith N. Anderson with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, will follow.

Then county commissioners from Lane, Douglas and Coos counties will speak. Chairman John Griffith will represent Coos County. City Manager Chuck Freeman will speak for the city of Coos Bay.

All of these speakers will get five minutes except Solliday, who has three.

After the parade of government officials, the STB will give 15 minutes to representatives of Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad. The railroad shut down the Coos Bay line in September 2007 and filed an abandonment application for 94 miles of the line on July 14.

The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay will then have 15 minutes to speak. It filed a feeder line application to take over 111 miles of the line on July 11.

After the two principal players, a slew of shippers and other businesses will speak, including Roseburg Forest Products, Southport Forest Products, Oregon Western Lumber, Menasha Forest Products Corp., Plum Creek Timber, American Bridge Manufacturing, Chambers Plumbing & Heating, Danish Dairy and H & S Construction Railroad and Salvage.

The hearing will conclude with comments from a variety of interested parties including the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, Port of Umpqua, Abel Insurance Agency, Southwestern Oregon Community College, the Sierra Club, Friends of New and Sustainable Industry, Citizens Against LNG, O.C.E.A.N. of Oregon, North Bend School District, Edward Immel, Nancy Nichols and Timothy Larkins.

Most speakers have five minutes to speak.

The hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday in Eugene’s U.S. Courthouse, 405 E. Eighth Ave., room 2200, the jury assembly room. An information session will precede the hearing at 8:15 in the GSA conference room, number 1702.