Port of Royal Slope two bids to operate railroad

ROYAL CITY — Port of Royal Slope Executive Director Cathy Potter was correct when she said long ago that local folks can do things faster than state government.

The PORS has had ownership of the Royal Slope Railroad since July. Tuesday it received bids from two potential operators.

The Washington State Department of Transportation had the railroad several years. It took WSDOT years to find one bid, and that bidder bowed out after taking a good look at the prospects for car loads.

In less than a year, the PORS managed to convince the state to give up the line, send out requests for proposals, open them and begin the review process.

“With excitement, two proposals for being the operator of the Royal Slope Railroad were accepted at the Commissioners’ meeting on August 25,” Potter said.

One proposal is from Frontier Rail, and the other is from Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad.

“Acquiring an operator for the Royal Slope Railroad is the second hurdle for us to get over,” Potter said. “The first hurdle was getting the title to the railroad, which is finally completed.”

The last hurdle is getting the potential rail shippers on board. It still may take getting a train up to Royal to do this, but the PORS does not lack determination.

“We have so much potential here for business growth,” Potter said. “Right now, there are two companies from outside the area planning on locating here. Having rail access was one of their requirements.”

Frontier Rail Corporation was founded in 2006 and, after nine years of growth, the Frontier Rail Group of affiliate carriers maintains and operates 250 miles of railroad in four states.

Frontier Rail Corporation also operates non-carrier services at 12 locations in seven states – including railcar switching, car repair, trans-loading and railhead marketing/logistics services. FRC’s office is located in Burbank.

Some of Frontier Rail’s business within Washington includes: operating the YCR (Yakima Central Railway) which consists of 22 miles of rail that connects to the BNSF; operating 50 miles of the Western Washington Railroad which interchanges with BNSF, UP, Tacoma Rail and PSAP; and doing private track switching for Railex in Wallula.

Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad, which is a subsidiary of US Rail Partners Ltd., was incorporated in 2007 and operates the 108-mile “CW Sub” from a connection with BNSF from Cheney to Coulee City.

EWGR also operates the six-mile Geiger Spur in Spokane. US Rail Partners also owns a 38-mile rail line between Wellington, KS and Blackwell, OK known as the Blackwell Northern Gateway Railroad.

The Eastern Washington Gateway management team comes with almost 200 years of combined railroad operating experience.

“I’m looking forward to meeting the two potential rail operators for the Royal Slope Railroad to see which one will provide the best service for our community,” PORS Commissioner Dave Miller said.

The estimated schedule for the PORS commissioners now is to evaluate proposals and conduct interviews by September 18. The PORS anticipates making an announcement of an operator on September 22.