12/02/05 More funding for rail produce cars

12/02/05 More funding for rail produce cars

Farm and Ranch December 2, 2005 Washington Senator Patty Murray recently announced that she had secured one million dollars in a federal spending bill for the Washington State Produce Rail Car Program. Senator Murray had initially secured one million dollars for the program last year and Washington State Potato Commission Executive Director Chris Voigt says they are pleased the Senator continues to put her efforts and energy behind the project. It's a project that began in 2003 when Potato Commission Assistant Executive Director Karen Bonaudi says they began recognizing an increasing problem with getting refrigerated cars for perishable shippers of products like potatoes, onions, and fruits. Eventually state legislation authorized the Washington State Department of Transportation to administer a Produce Rail Car Program and allocated 200-thousand dollars for start up funding. Federal funding was also sought leading to the appropriations Murray has secured. Bonaudi explains what's happening now with the program. Bonaudi: "WSDOT is setting up an RFP to go out for a management firm that will actually manage the car pool. We have also heard from the railways that they want to refurbish their cars as well and take care of that themselves. So, this has really instigated a lot of energy and effort among the principles." That's the Northwest Farm and Ranch Report. Brought to you in part by the Washington State Potato Commission. Nutrition today! Good health tomorrow! I'm Bob Hoff on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
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