Washington state legislators have earmarked money to save two Eastern Washington rail lines, a move that could help preserve hundreds of jobs here.


One of those lines, the 5-mile Geiger rail spur on the West Plains, serves businesses that employ more than 325 people in heavy-industry jobs here, says Ross Kelley, director of engineering for Spokane County.


The other, the 372-mile Palouse River-Coulee City Railroad (PRCC), is either the only rail service or the only local one in six Eastern Washington counties, and has a public benefit approaching $24 million a year, the state says in a report released earlier this year. That benefit includes the jobs the railroad supports as well as the value of keeping freight off of the states crumbling roads.


The Legislature included about $5.8 million in its 2003-2005 transportation budget to buy the majority of the PRCC railroad, thus saving the line from being abandoned by its current owner, Watco Cos., of Pittsburgh, Kan. An additional $1.5 million to complete that purchase is expected to be spent in the 2005-2007 budget.


Legislators also included $3.5 million in a tentative 2005-2007 budget to fix and extend the Geiger spur. That project would make it possible to abandon the part of the line that runs through Fairchild Air Force Base, which poses security concerns, Kelley says.


The two spending initiatives are interrelated because the extension of the Geiger spur would connect it to the PRCC railroad, and the operator of that railroad then would operate the spur, says Joe Tortorelli, an economic development consultant here who has been following the issue closely. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Co. (BNSF) currently operates the spur, but has said it no longer wants to do that.


Kelley feels very positive that the state will follow through and fund the Geiger project and the remainder of the PRCC purchase in the 2005-2007 biennium.


That both projects received the nod from a cash-strapped Legislature means that the Legislature recognizes the importance of continuing to provide good rail service to the area, Kelley says. The PRCC and the Geiger spur have a pretty heavy impact on jobs and the areas economic benefit.


Saving West Plains jobs


The Geiger spur runs from the BNSF line, just to the north of Fairchild Air Force Base, along the north edge of the base, then turns south and runs just inside the bases eastern boundary as far south as McFarlane Road. From there, it runs east along McFarlane before terminating at Hayford Road.


The state plans to construct three miles of new track south of the McFarlane Road section, connecting it with the PRCC line near Medical Lake. Once the extension is completed, the portion of the Geiger spur that runs through Fairchild would be removed, and the rail from that section would be used to upgrade older sections of the spur, Tortorelli says.


The project would save jobs on the West Plains, executives there say.


Dan Weaver, part owner of one of the biggest users of the spur, Metals Fabrication Co., at 2524 S. Hayford, says the loss of the spur would have had a major impact to our business and our approximately 75 employees and subcontractors. We feel we would lose many of our jobs if we lose our direct rail service. Weaver notes that those positionsmaking steel supports for big construction projects mostly elsewhereare head-of-household jobs.


Gary Schnee, the Seattle-based general manager of Seaport Steel, says Seaport wouldnt have opened a branch operation three years ago at 2526 S. Hayford if it had known the spur was in jeopardy.


Were hoping for growth in that area but we depend on that railroad totally, Schnee says. We could not survive without it.


Seaport, a Seattle-based steel distributor, has just four employees here now, but would like to keep expanding our operation (on the West Plains), he says.


John Pargman, vice president of manufacturing at Garco Building Systems, at 2714 S. Garfield, says that longtime West Plains company hasnt used the spur for two years, but has used it in the past and would like to again in the future.


Having rail service available enhances property values, Pargman and others note.


We dont want to see it go away because its a real asset for our property and our business, which designs and manufactures steel buildings, Pargman says.


Another West Plains business, Western Rail Inc., has offered to take over switching service on the spur from BNSF until the extension to the PRCC line is built, which might be in five or six years.


Im not a railroad operator and I dont want to be (one), but I will to maintain that line, says Todd Havens, president of the company, which sells and leases used locomotives. Western Rail moved to the West Plains from another location in Spokane earlier this spring.


The Geiger spur is his companys lifeline, Havens says. Theres not a lot of business (on the rail line), but at the same time the business thats there relies on it.


Farmers in Eastern Washington and North Idaho likewise rely on the PRCC railroad to move their bulk commodities to market.


Thats why the state would like to buy the railroad for about $7.45 million. The money earmarked by the Legislature for the purpose is just shy of that price, but Washingtons congressional delegation is trying to find federal funding to cover the rest, says Stephen Anderson, rail services manager for the Department of Transportation in Olympia.


The state hopes to buy the line and turn it over to another party, possibly the Port of Whitman County, to operate.


First, however, state law requires the DOT to perform a due-diligence study to ensure that the benefits of public ownership outweigh the cost to state taxpayers. The study should be finished within the next month or so, and if the cost-benefit analysis favors the purchase, the deal could be completed by the end of the year, Anderson says.


Under ownership by Watco, the railroad is not self-sustaining and is highly susceptible to abandonment, says the state report on the line released earlier this year.


One big issue is the millions of dollars worth of maintenance and upgrading the railroad needs, the report says. By putting the railroad into public hands, about $1 million a year thats considered Watcos cost of ownership will be available to begin that work, says Ray Allred, author of the report. In addition, as part of its due-diligence effort, the state is looking at the PRCC piece by piece and will decide which segments it makes sense to keep, Anderson says.


The closure of the PRCC railroad would mean an immediate loss of $6.4 million in wages and benefits in the six counties in which it operates, and $11.1 million per year in potential job losses and jobs that wouldnt materialize, the earlier state report says.


Combined with other impacts, and compared with the $7.45 million purchase price, The benefits from purchasing and preserving the system will repay the public in the first year with additional benefits every year thereafter, the report says.