Royal Slope Railroad Services good for economic growth

ROYAL CITY - Speakers at the welcoming open house last Thursday for the leaders of ARG Transportation Services said the re-development the Royal Slope Railroad will be good for economic growth and the highway system.

''This is the most significant thing we have done;' Port of Royal Slope Executive Director Kathy Potter said.

ARG Transportation Services was chosen by the Washington State Department of Transportation to operate the local short line. ARG once stood for Arizona Railroad Group. Later it was American Railroad Group. Now it is simply ARG.

ARG's new business on the Royal Slope will be known as the Royal Slope Railroad. Although the abandoned line had been called the RSRR, it was not officially that until ARG filed the paperwork.

Whether there will be a RSRR is still a question. ARG leaders must determine, over the next six months, if it is feasible to run the railroad. They and staff members will be here frequently marketing their plan.

State Rep. Matt Manweller of Ellensburg, who gave a big assist to the Port of Royal Slope's effort to re-start the RSRR, was one of the speakers.

"It's going to be an amazing project," he said.

Manweller referred to Washington as an agricultural and export state. He said trucks from the Royal Slope often get bottled up in 1-90 traffic on their way to seaports in Western Washington.

"I would rather have one train than 100 diesel burning trucks crossing over that pass," he said.

ARG Pres. Scott Parkinson noted that he was in the area looking over the railroad three years ago.

''We have kind of been around the block with this;' he said.

Parkinson asked the 40 or so people gathered at the open house to help him and the company progress in the development of the RSRR. He asked for the names of shippers and potential shippers he could call during the marketing phase.