The state owns the hoppers, the Port of Walla Walla manages them and shortlines operate and maintain them. The short-lines ferry the loaded hoppers to mainline railroads that take them to Portland and other destinations. For each hopper, the mainlines pay the state between 20 cents and 70 cents an hour and between six and eight cents a mile. Not everyone thinks the Grain Train should be rolling. Early on, some lawmakers said that the transportation department should have used the federal funds for something else, and the critcism continues.
Cost is a main reason.
Short-lines simply don't have the cash flow needed to finance such expensive purchases, says Steve Kahler, general superintendent at Blue Mountain Railroad, Co., a Walla Walla railroad that operates the current 29 hoppers. We couldn't afford it. Blue Mountain Railroad will get the new cars, and the transportation department expects to transfer the current fleet to Columbia Basin Railroad, which runs along 85 miles of track in the Moses Lake area. Transport officials are still negotiating with three grain co-ops that will ship their wheat on the Grain Train. That would translate into 468 carloads of wheat a year.