A $19 million project to improve the Connell rail interchange received a $4 million boost in the 2024 legislative session.

Columbia Basin Railway, or CBRW, is one of the busiest shortline railways in the state due to growth along its route, according to the Connell Rail Interchange Coalition.

The railway serves the Grant, Adams and Franklin county cities of Moses Lake, Wheeler, Schrag, Warden, Othello, Royal City, Bruce and Connell.

Trains haul thousands of loads of various agricultural and industrial commodities and other cargo along the rail line annually for 60 active rail shippers in the Columbia Basin, which employs nearly 7,000 people in Grant and Adams counties, the coalition said.

The Connell rail Interchange is a key one in Eastern Washington as the CBRW intersects with BNSF Railway’s Lakeside Subdivision line, which runs between Spokane and Pasco.

The $19 million project includes $10 million in funding already appropriated by the Legislature in 2015, plus an additional $5 million in the 2023 Legislative session, the coalition said. About $500,000 has been spent on design and engineering since 2015.  

The funding will be used to relocate and reconfigure the interchange in rural Connell to industrial property south of the city, as well as improve safety and efficiency along the route.

Built nearly a century ago, the improvements are needed, the coalition said.

The upgrades will allow long trains heading west on BNSF lines to be routed to CBRW’s lines without breaking the train apart, time-consuming switching or extensive roadway grade-crossing blockages, the coalition said.

The interchange reconfiguration also will allow for the simultaneous accommodation of an inbound and outbound train without one locomotive blocking the other. To put this into perspective, the minimum number of tracks required for this type of operation is three, with a length of 8,600 feet each.

State Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, helped secure the funding, with Sen. Curtis King, R-Yakima, and Rep. Tom Dent, R-Moses Lake, helping to keep the legislation on track, the coalition said.

The Port of Warden and Columbia Basin Railroad are the lead agencies for the Connell Rail interchange project.

Project partners also include the city of Connell, state Department of Transportation, BNSF and the ports of Moses Lake, Warden, Othello, Royal Slope and Pasco.