(The following appeared on the Daily Journal of Commerce website on December 22.)
PORTLAND, Ore. — The Port of Vancouver USA and the BNSF Railway Company have reached a preliminary agreement to allow the construction of the port’s $137 million West Vancouver Freight Access project.
Awaiting final agreements and port commission approval, BNSF has tentatively agreed to sell 17 acres of railroad right-of-way and donate $6 million in rail infrastructure to the port for construction of the project. The WVFA would expand port rail facilities from 18 miles of track to 43 miles. BNSF would be the exclusive rail operator if the deal goes through.
The port currently moves 70 percent of its cargo by rail, a number that would grow to 80 percent once the WVFA is completed. Port customers use 57,000 rail cars annually, and recent studies have predicted that number could grow to 160,000 rail cars per year with the completion of the WVFA.
As part of the deal, the port must complete construction of the project by the end of 2017. The port broke ground on the WVFA in late 2007, and is nearly finished with the easternmost parts.