Tacoma Rail Mountain Division May See Some Action

Tacoma Rail’s Mountain Division has come up in recent months as a money-losing operation. An item on the June 6 City Council meeting agenda could begin to reverse that situation a little.

Authorizing the execution of a grant agreement with the State of Washington, Governor’s Strategic Reserve Fund, in the amount of $100,000, to install railroad track in Frederickson on the Tacoma Rail Mountain Division to provide rail service to Carlisle Construction Materials.

The deal would work like this: The state gives Tacoma $100,000, Tacoma Rail commits $25,000 of in kind contributions of switch materials, and Randles Sand and Gravel (where the Carlisle facility will be situated) covers the rest of the cost, up to $140,000. According to background information provided by Tacoma Rail, the project, which would facilitate rail service to the new Carlisle Construction materials plant in Frederickson, is expected to bring in $85,000 annually once it’s up and running. It is expected to be operational some time in the second half of 2012.

Tacoma Rail won’t be getting rid of the Mountain Division anytime soon, but the division has been running a significant deficit, so a contract to increase its use (and revenue) sounds like it could be a good thing?

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