Washington state port poised to start major rail project
3/17/2026
By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor
A long-planned rail project at a Washington state port is inching closer to the construction stage.
The Port of Moses Lake recently issued a request for proposals for a construction manager to carry out the Northern Columbia Basin Rail Project. Proposals are due April 8.
The port has been developing the project — now estimated to cost between $45 million and $60 million — for more than 20 years.
The port currently can access service provided by BNSF Railway and short line Columbia Basin Railroad (CBRW). Owned by Jaguar Transport Holdings, CBRW operates more than 200 miles of track between Moses Lake and Connell, Washington, and interchanges with BNSF. The project will enable the port to gain direct rail access and a connection to BNSF.
Construction on the project will be broken into segments. Segment 1 involves building a five-mile rail line to serve more than 1,000 acres of industrial-zoned land in the Wheeler Industrial Corridor in Moses Lake.
The new track will be constructed from a CBRW line in Wheeler, over Crab Creek to a connection with a rail line to be rehabilitated (under Segment 3) that serves the port and Grant County International Airport. Segment 1 also includes the construction of four grade crossings.
Shown: The Columbia Basin Railroad’s network, including a line into Moses Lake. The Washington state short line was acquired last year by Jaguar Transport Holdings.Jaguar Transport HoldingsThe line will bypass downtown, provide freight-rail access to existing businesses, help agricultural producers expand, and attract new businesses and industry to the corridor, port leaders say. In addition, trains can be re-routed out of downtown Moses Lake, creating new opportunities for public access, they stress.
“It will eliminate a major impediment to retaining and attracting new industries in rural central Washington by providing a cost-effective transportation option for existing businesses, agricultural producers and new industries to ship to/from Pacific Northwest ports and the Midwest,” port leaders said in an email.
Segment 3 calls for rehabilitating a three-mile line between Crab Creek and the airport that CBRW donated to the port last year. The line currently terminates just south of the airport. The segment work will restore rail service to the port and airport — which was lost in 2009 — by connecting Segment 1 and a future Segment 2.
Construction could start in fall and be completed in early to mid-2028, port officials estimate.
In November 2025, Columbia Basin Railroad and Northern Lines Railway joined BNSF’s Shortline Select program, which aims to combine small railroads’ customized service with the Class I’s vast network reach.BNSF RailwayIf everything goes well, a construction manager could be chosen in June or July, says Director of Port Facilities Milt Miller.
“Then we will attempt to issue an award and a notice to proceed in September or October,” he says.
After the work is completed, operations will start with one round-trip train of 10 cars per week, with train speeds not to exceed 25 mph. The port forecasts operations to grow to one round-trip train daily by 2045.
