Ground to break next week

Facility will be able to load 410,000 bushel trains in 8.5 hours.

McCoy Land Company will host a groundbreaking ceremony next Wednesday to mark the start of construction on its $17 million shuttle train loader.

The company is a joint venture by local grain cooperatives CoAg and Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative.

The loader will be located just north of McCoy siding, along State Route 271 south of Rosalia.

The 1.3-million-bushel, state-of-the-art train loader will reduce the time needed to fill 110-car unit trains. The longer trains net lower shipping rates, explained Jackie Tee, former Co-Ag general manager, because it requires less work by mainline carrier Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

“It’s just a lot more efficient way for BNSF to get our grain on their track,” Tee explained.

New grain terminals in the Portland area can also unload the larger trains much faster, said Tee.

The new terminal will be able to load 110-car unit trains, which hold 410,000 bushels of wheat, in about eight-and-a-half hours.

It will be able to load out at 60,000 bushels per hour and take in grain at 40,000 bushels per hour.

Grain from the cooperatives’ other storage elevators along the line will also be able to be brought to the McCoy site by truck or train to be loaded into the unit train.

The facility is on the P&L line of the state-owned Palouse River and Coulee City rail system.

Ninth District State Rep. Joe Schmick, a farmer from Colfax, said he was happy to see the private companies invest in a project that will help utilize the state asset.

“If you’re gonna have it, you might as well use it,” said Schmick. “It’s important to have another way for the farmers to ship grain to the Port. The more volume it is, the lower the rates are going to be.”

Washington’s legislature approved the purchase of the PCC rail system in 2005, after rate hikes on the shortline system shut down traffic.

The rail was almost pulled up by Watco, the company that operated rail service on the lines before selling the railroad to the state.

An economic analysis of the train loader done for the Port of Whitman County found it would save more than $90 million in shipping and road maintenance costs over the next 20 years by taking more trucks off the road.

Construction began earlier this spring with crews clearing ground at the site. Tee said it should be in use by the harvest of 2013.

Next Wednesday’s groundbreaking event will be at the Rosalia City Park at 11 a.m. Special speakers will include Dan Newhouse, director of the state Department of Agriculture, and John Sibold, director of the marine and rail division of the state Department of Transportation.

The two co-ops, Co-Ag and PNW, have a combined membership of more than 1,400 producers. They both have barge terminals at the Snake River.