04/28/06 Rail listening session; Ag Dir. on rail

04/28/06 Rail listening session; Ag Dir. on rail

Washington Ag April 28, 2006 The Washington State Transportation Commission has been holding "Rail Capacity and System Needs" listening sessions around the state and a final session is scheduled for this coming Monday, May 1st in Quincy. It will begin at 1:30 p.m. at the Quincy City Hall. Public input is being taken on what the most important rail issues and challenges are in the state right now, what are the state's major strategic opportunities regarding the rail system and what is the most important thing the state can do for the rail system. Transportation was something Washington Ag Director Valoria Loveland talked about at a recent farm bill forum in Moses Lake. She described some of the discussions going on for example with railroads. Loveland: "You have no right of way to just run through our states without serving the people who help support you within the state. And that discussion is starting to turn around with better understanding that if you don't support the services that are necessary in the state you operate in, you are probably going to have some difficulty in smooth operations within the state." Loveland said all the northern tier states are at the table having those discussions. She said there needs to be an insistence at both the state and federal levels that appropriate modes of transportation are available for agriculture. I'm Bob Hoff.
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