Crash spills spuds Thursday, March 30, 2006

 

Potatoes litter the railroad crossing at Canal Road after a BNSF Railway Co. train collided with a semitrailer, which was hauling the spuds, as it attempted to cross the tracks Tuesday east of Hermiston. Staff photo by E.J. Harris.

 

Crash spills spuds

Truck driver Luis Alejandro Gonzalez of Othello, Wash., is comforted by Oregon State Police senior trooper Mitch Wilson and Sandy Widener of Hermiston Tuesday after a BNSF Railway Co. train collided with the semitrailer Gonzalez was driving as he crossed the tracks on Canal Road east of Hermiston. Staff photo by E.J. Harris. A truck carrying potatoes collided with a BNSF Railway Co. train Tuesday afternoon east of Hermiston. The driver escaped without injury, though the northbound train dragged his trailer full of spuds about 300 yards down the tracks. The driver, Luis Alejandro Gonzalez, trembled afterward as he leaned on an Oregon State Police cruiser and talked to one of the OSP troopers on scene. Gonzalez, of Othello,Wash., was hauling potatoes for Hermiston's Stahl Farms with his 1990 Peterbilt truck. I stopped and looked both ways, Gonzalez said. I saw the curve (in the railroad tracks) and didn't see the train.

03/26/06

BNSF, city talk with judge on Monday Hearing will address railroad's request to move portion of dispute before federal board. By JAMES QUIRK Jr. jquirk@thehawkeye.com A day in court for BNSF Railway and the city of Burlington will unfold via telephone conference call Monday morning. Both sides of the ongoing railroad litigation will talk with Judge Charles Wolle from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Davenport, at 9:30 a.m. The hearing is on behalf of the railroad's request to move a portion of the legal dispute before the federal Surface Transportation Board in Washington. Scott Power, the city's attorney, said on the day the lawsuit was filed two years ago that he expected the railroad to attempt to move the matter before the STB, which he considers a friendly forum for a railroad. Immediately after the hearing, there will be a pretrial conference. The trial is expected to unfold in mid–April. Meanwhile, the City Council is planning an executive session following a 4:30 p.m. Monday work session to discuss litigation, apparently the BNSF matter. The city lawsuit alleges the railroad breached an 1858 agreement that states the railroad could use riverfront property for its operations as long as it keeps its principal locomotive shops in the city. Because BNSF has either transferred or eliminated about 400 local shops jobs over the past several years, the city wants the court to order the railroad to start paying rent for use of the riverfront property. In its counterclaim motion, the railroad alleges the city breached a 1985 agreement that states the BNSF could use the riverfront property indefinitely as long as it's for railroad purposes. The 1985 agreement, which the railroad believes supersedes the 1858 contract, states nothing about BNSF having to maintain its principal shops in the city.

03/26/06

Produce rail car program may begin in July

Its been years in the discussion and planning stages, and now it appears that a rail car program for Washington state produce shippers could get under way as early as this July.

The Washington State Department of Transportation is in the process of contracting with Rail Logistics LC, a private company based in Overland Park, Kansas, to provide refrigerated rail cars and to manage the pilot program, said Mike Rowswell, WSDOT freight services manager. Shippers meetings are scheduled for later this month, with the program targeted to get under way by mid-July, Rowswell said.

We grow the worlds best potatoes in Washington, but too often our potatoes are stuck on loading docks because there aren't enough rail cars to move them, said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

Murray, who secured $2 million in federal funding for the state produce rail car program, held a news conference Mar20 in Moses Lake to applaud the program. She cited the collaboration among the state Legislature, WSDOT and Congress in developing a program she said would benefit the states farmers and shippers and, ultimately, the state economy.

Washington shippers, in a far corner of the country, have a transportation disadvantage compared with shippers in other states, said Marvin Vietz, sales manager of the Progressive Marketing Group, a division of Jones Produce, a major potato and onion shipper, based in Quincy. A chronic shortage of trucks, especially at harvest time, has caused many shippers to look at rail alternatives. But a lack of available refrigerated rail cars, coupled with railroad service problems, has frustrated shippers.

In Washington state, the BNSF Railway Company is the only major railroad, although Union Pacific operates just over the Oregon border. BNSF's fleet of refrigerated rail cars is aging, and a few years ago the railroad announced plans to build a fleet of a new generation of supercars. The railroad offered older cars, due to be surplused, to the state for a produce rail car pool. But the cost to refurbish the cars was high, even with $2 million in federal funds and another $200,000 from the state, said Chris Voigt, executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission in Moses Lake.

At the three shippers meetings, slated for Mar28 in Seattle, Mar29 in Pasco and Mar30 in Quincy, produce shippers from around the state can describe their needs while Rail Logistics staff will provide costs and service information, Rowswell said.

For details about the shippers meetings, including locations and times, contact Voigt at (509) 765-8845. - Peggy Steward, The Salem Capital Press, courtesy Larry W. Grant