Railroad letter sent on behalf of Quincy intermodal

Port district seeks higher visibility with Burlington Northern

QUINCY — Citing concerns over a slow response, the state's House of Representatives is pushing the railroad for an agreement with an area port district.

Rep. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, and 13 other House members, sent a letter Friday to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway Company urging the railroad to enter into a service agreement with the Port of Quincy to provide intermodal service.

According to the House, in 2002, the port district sought and received written support from the company for the development of an intermodal rail terminal and track, which would connect to Burlington's lines. Since then, more than $10 million in local, state and federal funding were spent to develop and construct the terminal.

In a press release, Warnick said the port worked in good faith with Burlington, who gave assurances it supported intra-state intermodal service and provided written approval for the port's rail connection to its lines.

"Now that the terminal is ready and millions have been spent for development, BNSF is dragging its feet," Warnick said in the release. "We're very worried the railway could pull out altogether, leaving Columbia Colstor, the Port of Quincy and its clients and our local shippers without rail shipping access and with no other recourse. If that happens, it could potentially affect hundreds of local jobs."

Columbia Colstor saw the opening of its international refrigerated warehouse in Quincy in 2006.

Regional Manager Russ Lytle hopes the representatives' request leads the company to "see the light" and allow the port district an operational contract economically viable for both parties.

"We've got a $25 million investment, and it's hard for us to draw new business from other regions to here without having the availability of the rail service and the container yard," he said.

The company also needs lining supply companies, Lytle said, which would probably happen with a service contract with the railroad.

"Then we would be able to bring export products in from other regions of the country, transload and put them into containers for the continuation via rail over to the ports of Seattle and Tacoma," he said.

The warehouse is pretty busy, Lytle said, with ConAgra Lamb Weston repositioning their export business to exclusively go through the facility.

"When we finally get the contract with the railroad, we will have container availability and all the other pluses that go along with being here," he said.

Port of Quincy Commissioner Curt Morris said the port is asking the railroad to provide a service the port can schedule which would leave the intermodal yard, he explained, while the port would be in charge of intermodal operations.

The port district has had "very beneficial" meetings with Burlington, Morris said, and aims to generate quicker communications and an ongoing dialogue with the railroad.

The port last met with the company in early March, with Burlington looking for another meeting in the summer, but Morris said the port hoped to meet sooner.

"Just because of all the activity we've got going on here, we feel it's imperative we move down that road quicker rather than later," he said.

The letter from Warnick and the other representatives shows how the interest in having service from Quincy is on everyone's mind, Morris said.

"We're not demanding anything, we're pretty much asking, 'Let's sit down and have a dialogue of how do we effectively use this intermodal facility,'" he said.

The intermodal is eligible to bring anything in, and first began receiving shipments in October 2006.

Morris said the port needs to work with the railroad to form a business plan.

"We're not fighting with the railroad, we're just trying to get a higher visibility of what fits best for this facility in their system," he said.

"We will review this further," said Gus Melonas, spokesperson for Burlington.