Trains will travel more than 4,000 miles of track through region

The proposed surge in coal exports through the Northwest could send up to 63 coal trains a day through the major cities of Portland, Seattle, Spokane, and Billings, Montana, as well as Glacier National Park, according to a research report released July 11.

BNSF Railway Co. is likely to get more of the rail transport business than rival Union Pacific Railroad, because it offers relatively shorter routes and thus a lower cost structure, analysts concluded.

The report was prepared by consultants Whiteside & Associates and G.W. Fauth & Associates for the Western Organization of Resource Councils, a Montana-based agriculture and conservation group.

Analysts said the coal shipments would traverse more than 4,000 total miles of rail lines, as 1.3-mile trains transport Powder River Basin coal from Montana and Wyoming to ports proposed in Oregon and Washington.

The cost of upgrading roads, rail lines and other infrastructure to support proposed coal export facilities could reach into the billions of dollars, analysts said.

“State and local governments will likely bear the brunt and burden of the related infrastructure costs in their localities and will likely be required to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in related mitigation, litigation, debt and other costs associated with the necessary improvements to accommodate export coal traffic levels.”

The analysts project that the worse “choke points” for rail congestion will be Spokane and Billings, which will accommodate nearly every one of the trains.

Recent derailments of coal trains in Washington, Illinois and Texas are heightening concerns of Northwest citizens and local governments about the prospects of massive increases in coal shipments through their communities.

Several cities have passed resolutions opposing coal exports. Jefferson Smith, candidate for Portland mayor, has called on the city of Portland to pass a similar resolution.

To read the full report: heavytrafficahead.org.