BNSF Railroad upgrades

Odds of federal funding to upgrade track on state-owned railroads through Whitman County are likely nil until the North-South freeway is built in Spokane.

Port of Whitman County commissioners got an update on funding for the railroad it oversees from Bob Westby, the newly-appointed overseer of the state-owned shortline system for the state Department of Transportation.

“I didn’t even know we owned a railroad,” said Westby.

The port applied for a federal grant from the Transportation Improvement Generating Economic Recovery program (TIGER) to upgrade track to the planned unit train loader at McCoy Siding south of Rosalia.

Washington’s Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers instead threw their support last week behind the north-south freeway in Spokane.

Joe Poire, the port’s executive director, said the freeway support all but sank the hopes the port would receive funding for the railroad.

“Our gang in D.C. is behind the freeway. Other than that, we’ve got a really strong grant,” said Poire.

Westby helped design the Spokane freeway. He said most of the state’s influence in D.C. will be used to finish the freeway. Construction will continue from the north end this summer.

Westby was able to lobby the legislature to dedicate $4 million for maintenance on the 300-mile Palouse River & Coulee City shortline system.

That won’t make a dent, though, in shoring up the 24 bridges between McCoy, located south of Rosalia, and the connection to the Burlington Northern mainline at Marshall.

Whitman County earlier this month issued building permits to McCoy Land Co. to build the large-scale train loader. The company is a consortium of area grain companies Co-Ag and PNW Farmers’ Co-op.

They are building a facility that will quickly load 110-car grain trains. That should help secure space on the BNSF mainline for grain from Whitman County.

Westby said nearly two-thirds of the wooden bridges on the line between McCoy and Marshall are not rated to support the 286,000-pound loads in each of those 110 cars.

“McCoy won’t be able to operate at full capacity,” Westby said, until those bridges are fixed.

Maintenance money allotted by the legislature will be used to shore up that track and replace wooden bridges with steel or concrete structures, said Westby, who added he will hit the legislature hard for funding in future sessions.

One bright spot from the north-south freeway may be in track upgrades on the local railroad.

Westby said the BNSF railyard in Hillyard will have to relocate because of the freeway, and some of the track pulled up in that process could be used to replace the shortline track.

More funding may come if the state decides to pull up the now defunct line between Colfax and Pullman, out of commission since the South Palouse River fire burned out a trestle in 2006.

Westby predicted that connection will likely never be restored.