(The following story by Karen Ogden appeared on the Great Falls Tribune website on December 8.)
BILLINGS, Mont. — The BNSF Railway Co. will invest $5 million to $8 million in its Great Falls-to-Fort Benton branch line to allow for construction of one or two high-speed “shuttle loader” elevators.
Railroad officials announced the plan at a meeting in Billings Wednesday evening with a coalition of farm groups that is lobbying to save critical branch lines.
The upgrade ensures the survival of the Fort Benton track, which leads to one of Montana’s richest grain growing regions, said Lochiel Edwards, past president of the Montana Grain Growers Association and a member of the coalition.
BNSF is moving away from servicing older, 52-car elevators like the ones on the Fort Benton line.
The track was listed in a state study last year among Montana’s “Top 10 At-Risk Rail Lines.”
The track upgrades will allow construction of a high speed elevator, ensuring the survival of the track, Edwards said.
If the track closed, Fort Benton area farmers would have to drive their grain to elevators in Great Falls or on the Hi-Line, eroding their profits and putting additional wear-and-tear on roads.
“It will decrease farmers’ trucking costs and provide another one or two competitive elevators to market to,” he said.
The farm coalition met with Kevin Kaufman, BNSF vice president of agricultural products, and John Davis, BNSF general director for wheat. Both traveled to Montana from BNSF’s headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.
Attempts to reach Kaufman by cell phone Wednesday night were unsuccessful.
Edwards said a likely location for a shuttle loader or a pair of shuttle loaders is between Carter and Kershaw.
He would not speculate on which grain companies would build the facilities, and railroad officials did not name any, Edwards said.
Wednesday’s announcement stemmed from ongoing talks between the farm coalition and BNSF, as the railroad targets branch lines for closure.
“It boils down to identifying where there is enough grain to support the large infrastructure that shuttle loaders require to operate economically,” Edwards said.
The other organizations in the farm coalition are the Montana Farm Bureau, Montana Farmers Union, WIFE and Montana Wheat and Barley Committee.