(The Associated Press circulated the following on April 15, 2009.)
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Wallowa-Union Railroad has gotten a little new business as a result of the recession.
The Oregon railroad has signed a deal with Union Pacific Railroad to store surplus rail cars idled by the economic downturn.
The Observer newspaper in La Grande reported that Union Pacific will pay Wallowa-Union Railroad $59,400 a month, or $2.1 million over the three years of the lease.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for us to capture this kind of revenue,” said Mark Davidson, a Union County commissioner and a member of the Wallowa-Union Railroad Authority board.
The Union Pacific cars will be stored on sidings between Wallowa and Joseph.
The Observer said the Omaha, Neb.-based national railroad is shipping less freight due to the economy and needs places off the major rail corridors to store cars that are not in use.
Davidson said the Wallowa-Union board first heard about the need for storage space from a Friends of the Joseph Branch volunteer who formerly worked for Union Pacific.
“We said we’d be interested and he got us a name,” Davidson said, leading to talks over several weeks that ended in the deal signed this week.