Port of Moses Lake acquires 3 miles of rail

MOSES LAKE — After about two decades of work and three years of negotiation, the Port of Moses Lake took ownership of about 3 miles of railroad track between State Route 17 and Port property Monday. The rail line had been the property of the Columbia Basin Railroad.  

Along with expanding rail service northeast of Moses Lake, the transfer eventually will lead to the rail lines running through town being taken out of service permanently.  

Port commissioners voted to accept the donation of the rail line from CBRR at their regular meeting Monday. 

“And we are in the railroad business,” said commission chair Darrin Jackson. 

Port officials have obtained about $30 million in federal funding and state funding for the project. Milton Miller, port facilities director, said the port is still acquiring rights of way, but construction will start when that is completed.  

“We’re building roughly 5 miles of new track and rehabbing 3 and a half miles,” Miller said. 

Port attorney Frank Chmelik said it’s been a long time in negotiation, in part because railroad law is very complicated. 

“We’ve been working on this transaction since around 2021,” Chmelik said. “Railroad law and bankruptcy law I think are two areas of the law that have their rules unto themselves.” 

The line was donated to the port; that gave CBRR some tax advantages, Miller said. In addition, the railroad doesn’t have to pay to fix the 3 miles of track, he said. 

“The initial project was to allow the short line Columbia Basin Railroad to abandon the tracks downtown because of congestion and its inoperability from home encroachments as well as business encroachment,” Miller said. “This allows rail access to the port, so the new line being built on the south side of Wheeler will tie into this line, which then will make it an active rail line all the way out to the port. Then we can court business from Wheeler all the way out to the port for rail access.” 

Commissioner Kent Jones said the port owned, or is going to build, sections of the rail line on either side of the CBRR section. In that case, it made more sense for the port to own the entire line, he said. 

Columbia Basin Railroad will operate the line and be responsible for “routine maintenance.” The port will pay for capital maintenance.  

The new and refurbished rail line will extend from Wheeler Road near Road L Northeast out to the port, Miller said.  

The construction timeline depends on acquiring the final rights of way, Miller said. Two parcels are left. 

“It’s at 100% design,” Miller said. “Once we have (the rights of way) of those two parcels, we’ll put it out to bid. We’re hoping to start construction this year.” 

    The rail line to be built by the Port of Moses Lake will extend from Wheeler Road to port property.