Railroads Back On Track Resurgence Fueled By Increased Trade With Pacific Rim Nations

After 15 years of streamlining operations and abandoning money-losing lines, railroads are roaring back into the Pacific Northwest - investing millions on expansion projects from Tacoma to Sandpoint.

In some cases, they’re thinking of reconstructing track they tore up a decade ago because of lack of traffic.

“Much to everyone’s surprise, rail is making a comeback,” cheered Port of Whitman County manager Jim Weddell, who five years ago led a nasty fight against a rail abandonment by Union Pacific Railroad Co.

Booming trade with the Pacific Rim is driving the efforts as monstrous steamships call on the ports of Tacoma and Seattle with enough cargo to fill 12 trains. At the same time, a huge increase in grain exported though the Pacific Northwest ports - and the continued threat of Snake River drawdowns - is creating bottlenecks for barge and rail shipments.

This confluence of events creates an opportunity for railroads to grab a greater share of the long-haul shipping business.

Though the Puget Sound ports are the most direct beneficiary of this export boom, the economic stimulus in Spokane is significant.

Spokane is an east-west hub for Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., which employs 800 people in the Inland Northwest, up from 700 three years ago, and moves 60 trains daily through Spokane. Gus Melonas, spokesman for Burlington Northern’s northern tier, said the company expects continued investment and employment growth in Spokane .

Omaha-based Union Pacific moves three trains daily through Spokane, connecting with the Canadian Pacific in North Idaho and the railroad’s east-west main line at Hermiston, Ore. Spokesman John Bromley says the railroad will increase traffic through Spokane to four daily trains if a pending merger with Southern Pacific Railroad goes through.

“Either way, it all has to go through Spokane,” says railroad expert Jim Jackson, with the Washington Department of Transportation.

The railroads face increased demand from all directions. Midwestern grain is pouring into Northwest ports, while ships loaded with Asian-made auto parts, clothing, toys and electronics are unloading their cargo on Northwest shores.

Recent mega-mergers have made railroad expansion possible by allowing the companies to pool their capital for expansion. In the end, the mergers will create two rail giants in the West, each concentrating on long-haul traffic.

That could result in the reopening or expansion of lines written off when the railroad industry was struggling. It also could clear the way for a new shortline railroad to operate west and south of Spokane and Cheney.

Among other projects, the railroads plan to:

Reopen Stampede Pass across the Cascade Mountains. The route, which once was part of the Milwaukee Road Railroad, would give Burlington Northern a third line between Seattle and Eastern Washington. Estimated cost: $40 million.

Reconstruct the abandoned Milwaukee Road between Ellensburg and Lind. This $120 million link would connect Burlington Northern trains coming down from Stampede Pass to Spokane and the northern tier. One hitch: the route was converted years ago to the John Wayne Trail, a hiking, horseback and biking path.

Upgrade the Washington Central Railroad Co. track between Ellensburg and Pasco. This project, estimated to cost Burlington Northern $10 million, would route the railroad’s Stampede Pass trains to its main line at Pasco. One catch: Burlington Northern must negotiate the rights to use track owned by shortline Washington Central.

Build a second, parallel track between Spokane and Sandpoint. This project, which Burlington Northern officials would not confirm, would relieve traffic pressure and the threat that a derailment would back up the heavily used single-track section.

“We plan to do some track expansion there,” spokesman Melonas says, declining to elaborate.

Spin off 315 miles of low-volume lines west and south of Spokane to a shortline operator. Burlington Northern said it may sell the short lines, running from Coulee City to Cheney, and Marshall to Lewiston, to focus on its long-haul business.

State officials say the lines are worth $5 million to $8 million and at least three companies are interested: Blue Mountain Railroad, Montana Rail Link and Washington Central.

Double-track the 4,200-foot Blue Mountain pass in southeastern Oregon, Union Pacific’s main east-west line. Union Pacific began this $120 million project in 1993, with plans to finish by 2002.

Erect a staging area at the Port of Tacoma to stash loaded trains waiting to get onto the busy main line. Cost: $7 million.

The projects are a signpost of rail congestion ahead, says Doug Ljungren, business planning manager for the Port of Tacoma. As the companies study projected growth, they conclude that they must invest in new lines or begin to lose business and money.

“As time goes on, the noose is going to get tighter,” he says.

Delayed trains can be just as much a nightmare as a derailment, with penalties of more than $50 per car each day cargo is delayed.

“It’s just money you’re throwing away,” Bromley said.

Transportation experts have identified the ports of Seattle, Tacoma and Portland as hot spots for trade with Pacific Rim nations.

Last year, according to a study by the Washington Public Ports and state Department of Transportation, the two ports handled an equivalent of 2.57 million 20-foot-long containers. That was nearly twice the number in 1985.

In 10 years, the study says, the ports will handle 3.5 million containers; in 20 years, they will exceed 5 million. At that rate, 9,100 trains will be needed to move everything coming on or off the steamships. That doesn’t include trains needed to haul grain and loose cargo that doesn’t fit in ocean-going containers.

About 70 percent of all containerized ocean cargo flowing through the ports of Tacoma and Seattle goes inland by rail, business manager Ljungren says. Containers filled with auto parts, electronics, toys and french fries are the fastest-growing cargo.

Steamships are responding with their own form of expansion. In May, a 5,000-container ship will for the first time call on Tacoma, carrying a payload nearly twice the size of the largest vessels currently pulling into the port, Ljungren says. Dutch steamships in the future will hold 6,000 containers, enough to fill 12 trains with double-stacked container cars.

“These ships can’t go through the Panama Canal,” says Jackson. “They’re locking themselves into landbridge traffic” across the United States on rail.

While U.S. imports to Northwest ports have risen, so have grain exports. Wheat and corn exports to China and other Asian buyers nearly buried the ports in 1995.

Grain cars delivered to Northwest ports grew 84 percent to 269,400, according to the transportation and marketing division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Gulf ports saw only a 48 percent increase in grain cars and North Atlantic ports no growth.

Jim Sabourin, spokesman for Ft. Worth, Texas-based Burlington Northern, says the railroad was running at full capacity in the Northwest before merging with Santa Fe. As part of the merger, the two partners have targeted areas where they need more track, more cars and faster delivery systems.

“You have to ask: Do we have capacity to handle the demand in your part of the country? Probably not. That’s why we’re looking at opening up additional routes,” he says.

Sabourin says Burlington Northern plans to make a final decision on new routes sometime this year.

A decision to reconstruct the Milwaukee Road would require approval from up to three state agencies and Washington Central, which controls a short section. Outdoor recreationalists also will seek to tap the railroad’s lease to construct an alternative to the John Wayne Trail.

“If a railroad wants the trail, they’ll eventually take it. So we have to look for the best alternative,” says Richard Janssen, executive director of the John Wayne Pioneer Wagons and Riders Association, which leads a wagon train across the trail every summer.

New rail construction is costly. A mile of flat track cost $1 million, Union Pacific’s Bromley says. That cost is one reason Union Pacific has moved slowly on rugged Blue Mountain pass.

Weddell, with Port of Whitman, said Inland Northwest exporters applaud the railroad’s expansion efforts, but fear that capital needs could intensify pressure to scrap short lines for the cash.

“We worry that they’ll forget this little bit of traffic we have that they need,” he said.

“This region is an export region. Boeing exports planes, we export wheat; some timber gets exported. The connections between rail, barge, plane and truck are fragile and we’re finding out there’s some bottlenecks.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Map: Changes in Washington’s railroads