05/08/07 Operators selected for eastern Washington railroad

Washington Ag May 8, 2007 The Washington State Department of Transportation has selected the operators for two branches of the Palouse River Coulee City railroad which Washington state has purchased from Watco. Mike Roswell with the Department of Transportation explains who has been selected to operate the CW line which runs from Coulee City to Cheney and Spokane. Roswell: "We selected a company called U.S. Rail Partners. That is I think a holding company. They will operate under the name of Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad. They are based in Illinois. Currently operate a shortline in Oklahoma that is owned by Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, with a similar experience that we have had here. So we felt they were a very good candidate and have a very good opportunity to build up the line going out to Coulee City." Roswell says the operator selected for the P&L line, which runs from Marshall to Pullman, is the Washington & Idaho Railroad. Roswell: "It is currently a sub-contractor for the current operator of that line and is operating there. And it is a subsidiary of an Idaho railroad that has some good experience." Current operator Watco will continue to run the PV Hooper line. The new operators will take over June 1st. I'm Bob Hoff.