Grain Train study chugs forward

Status of a study of the state Grain Train program, which supplies grain cars for shippers in Whitman County, was reported by Debbie Snell, Port of Whitman Properties and Development Manager, at the Aug. 18 meeting of the Port of Whitman.

“It’s rolling. Everything seems to be going well,” she said. “It’s moving forward.”

The Port in May put out a request for proposals (RFP) seeking a consultant. Beckett Group of Gig Harbor was selected for the project and has been working since June on a study from which a strategic plan will come.

Grain Train serves more than 2,500 cooperative members and farmers throughout the state and helps to carry thousands of tons of grain to deepwater ports along the Columbia River and Puget Sound to ships bound for Pacific Rim countries.

“We, in conjunction with WSDOT, put out a RFP to update the Washington state Grain Train Program,” said Snell. “The Grain Train Program has been useful to shippers and producers in that it increases car availability.”

The program began with a fleet of 29 cars in 1994 with federal money obtained through a lawsuit. The program now has 100 cars, and the Port of Walla Walla has an additional 18. The program is managed by the DOT, Port of Whitman County, the Port of Walla Walla and the Port of Moses Lake.

“They issued a draft of task one at the beginning of August,” said Snell. “It was in a nutshell an overview of trends in car availability and use.”

Snell said the Beckett Group is working with existing documentation on the program and is also interviewing stakeholders to better understand it. She said Beckett plans a meeting Sept. 28 in Spokane with WSDOT, Ports of Whitman, Port of Walla Walla and Port of Moses Lake.

“It’s called a visioning workshop,” said Snell, noting it will be geared toward discussing and goals.

Snell said there will be two primary goals for this meeting.

“Goal number one is to develop a vision statement for the Grain Train Program moving forward into the future,” she said. “I don’t think there ever was a mission statement.”

The second aim is reviewing present goals, refining them and developing new ones.

“That will help move forward other tasking,” said Snell.

Beckett plans at least one additional meeting in which users and shippers via rail will be invited. That meeting will be in October, likely at a central place in Whitman County, said Snell. There may also be another stakeholder meeting in November, but details have not been ironed out.

Snell said the report of the Grain Train study is due in January.

“I presume we’ll continue to receive drafts as we move forward to different phases,” she said.

The ports will use the report to develop a business plan for the program and make decisions about whether or not to expand it.