June 23, 2022

Snake River barge to rail

Thanks to Solutionary Rail for giving this opportunity to learn and advocate!

Thursday, June 30, 7pm Pacific, the Solutionary Rail Team presents our latest research on “Rail as an Alternative to Snake River Barging.”

Sign up HERE.

The Pacific Northwest is home to the greatest potential salmon habitat in the lower 48 – but access to the most prime salmon streams are blocked by 140 miles of slackwater reservoirs and 4 dams, primarily operated for barging grain from the Inland Northwest to ports on the Washington and Oregon coasts. The recently released Lower Snake River Dams Benefit Replacement Draft Report commissioned by Governor Inslee and Senator Murray acknowledges that we can replace LSR barging with rail, but does not detail a plan for doing so.
SR Researchers have been working on elements of such a plan. We’ve collaborated with rail planner Tom White and others in the PNW to analyze the capacity for and energy footprint of a mode shift from barge to rail in the area currently served by the LSR barges.Tom’s detailed analysis reveals potential increased trip capacity and opportunities for electrification. A deep dive into the current and historical rail service illuminates a series of potential steps in the path forward.

We look forward to sharing with you what we’ve learned thus far and why the mode shift from barge to rail could:

  1. Reduce truck miles on the road to lower wear and tear costs, improve safety and reduce truck emissions.
  2. Create more competition for grain transport and better prices for farmers and co-ops.
  3. Reduce GHG emissions from trains through use of battery/electric and fuel cell hybrid AND largely replace traction power impact by recovering much of that power through regenerative braking.

Join us for a presentation that discusses the capacity of the system to mode shift grain off of LSR barges and onto trains and the potential for Washington State’s Grain Train program and others to provide innovative leadership and model for other places.

We hope to see you online next Thursday evening for this revealing discussion of new research.

AND we are part of the campaign to get 50k comments to Senator Murray and Governor Inslee on their Snake River plan, in support of breaching the dams.  Take action HERE.

— The Solutionary Rail Team
-=-=-Backbone Campaign · PO Box 278, Vashon, WA 98070, United States
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