08/04/05  Siting state rail produce cars

08/04/05 Siting state rail produce cars

Washington Ag August 4, 2005 The Central Washington Alliance for Rail Freight Transportation is urging the Washington State Department of Transportation to make the Intermodal Facility at the Port of Quincy a primary site to position refrigerated railcars under the state's Produce Railcar Program. Alliance consultant Pat Boss says the request is part of a strategy to get Burlington Northern, which has a mainline that can be accessed through Quincy, to stop there. Something the railroad currently does not do. Meaning rail freight has to first go south to Pasco to get to Seattle or east to Spokane and beyond. Boss: "If you have a fleet of rail cars sitting at Quincy it is naturally going to attract more volume because anybody needing a railcar is going to go to Quincy. And if they are sitting there and they need to be loaded there, then BN we think would stop there." Boss says that would reduce truck traffic on Interstate 90 to the Seattle/Tacoma Metro area. Boss: "And a lot of that traffic could be diverted to rail freight if we had the ability to get BN to stop their train and make it a focal point or a priority point for rail freight." The Central Washington Alliance for Rail Freight Transportation has expressed its position in a letter to Barbara Ivanov, Director of Freight Strategy and Policy at the state Department of Transportation. I'm Bob Hoff.
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