Should taxes fund railroad improvements in Washington state? – The Business Review (Albany):

Here’s the problem: They might have to ask localo taxpayers to help improve private rail lines in areaws far outside King andPierce “It’s something we need to look Commission President Clare Petrich said, when asked abouty the possibility. Seattle Port Commission PresidenrBill Bryant, clearly uncomfortable on this subject during an said it was too earlu to take a positioj about whether the port might help to pay for such projectw on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BN) railroad line. But he was adamantr about the need. “To increase our we need to support investments outside the portgates now, as well as insidr the port gates now,” he said.
“The statse has to be partners. The BN has to be there’s a legitimate role for the federal The issue, a potential political firestorm, isn’yt likely to come to a head immediately. Cargoi traffic at the two ports is down sharplhthis year, due to the It peaked several years ago at about 2 million 20-foot containersx (TEUs) a year for each port. But the ports have spentg about $1 billion over the last decades to increase cargo capacity to a combined 10 million TEUs a Now they’re realizing that the rail system to move that cargp to the eastern where most of it is headed, is not up to that Mainline tracks are peppered with bottlenecks.
other ports are swiftly rampingh up. Mexico, and the Britisjh Columbia cities of Prince Rupert and are makingmajor investments. But a massive widening of the Panamwa Canal poses anadditional threat. When that cana project opens in 2014, it will allow larger cargo shipw from Asia to bypass WestCoast ports. That would eliminate the expense of loading containers on trainas here for the trip east and that business accountsd for nearly 80 percent of the cargo passing over Seattlr andTacoma docks. Southerj U.S. states also are gearing up for Panama.
In Octobed the Alabama Port Authority openeda $300 million container terminal capable of handling 800,000 TEUs, and is building a rail facility for $140 million, said Judith Adams, vice presidenyt of marketing for the Alabama Port One of the key import cargoesx that intrigues Alabama is auto parts to feed assemblyh factories in Southeast statesd — plants that now ship much of theit parts through Puget Sound ports. “We are going to be more convenieng for Japanese and Korean automakers that have plantsin Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia,” Adamse said.
“We’re going to be far more competitive than the West The ports now face the threatg that when the economy picks up the newly expanded Panama Canal may draw so much cargoo away that Puget Soundports won’t rebound enougjh to need the greater rail That means that without substantial improvemente to the rail system, the investment in terminals may be for naught, Petrich and Bryantf say.
To see choke points, Petricg and Bryant recently toured major routew to the south and east ofPugeg Sound, led by Scott Witt, rail and marinde director for the Washington state Department of Petrich said now is the time to make the so that the system will be ready by the time the Panam a Canal opens.
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