Rail Freight Carriers in

Washington State

Long Haul Railways

BNSF, Union Pacific

International Railways

• BNSF crosses the Canadian border between Blaine and White Rock BC
• BNSF reaches the Canadian border between Sumas and Huntingdon BC, where it meets Canadian Pacific and Southern Railway of British Columbia
• Kettle Falls International Railway crosses the Canadian border several times, see below

Regional & Local Railways

• Ballard Terminal Railroad three separate lines:
  • Ballard (interchange with BNSF) to Fremont, about 3 miles (5 km)
  • Meeker, near Tacoma (interchange with BNSF) to McMillin, about 4½ miles (7 km)
  • Snohomish (interchange with BNSF) to Woodinville, about 16 miles (25 km)
  (No website located at present)
• Cascade & Columbia River Railroad Rocky Reach (interchange with BNSF and trackage rights over BNSF from Wenatchee) to Oroville; about 132 miles (212 km)
• Central Washington Railroad two separate lines:
  • Fruitvale via Yakima (branch to Union Gap, where there is interchange with BNSF) to Moxee
  • Gibbon (interchange with BNSF) via Sunnyside to Granger
  Linked by trackage rights over BNSF from Union Gap to Gibbon. Total length of line about 80 miles (128 km)
• Columbia & Cowlitz Railway Longview (interchange Longview Switching) to Ostrander Junction (interchange with Patriot Woods), about 8 miles (13 km)
• Columbia Basin Railroad Connell (interchange with BNSF) via Warden (branch to Othello), Bassett Junction (branch to Schrag), Wheeler and Grow to Moses Lake Industrial Park. Total length of line about 86 miles (138 km)
• Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad Cheney (interchange with BNSF) via Medical Lake (branch to Airway Heights, near Spokane International Airport) to Coulee City; total length of line about 113 miles (182 km) (No current website located at present)
• Great Northwest Railroad Riparia (interchange with BNSF and Union Pacific, and trackage rights over Union Pacific to Ayer Junction - see Palouse River & Coulee City Railroad) via Clarkston to Spalding ID (interchange with Bountiful Grain & Craig Mountain)
• Kettle Falls International Railroad Chewelah (interchange with BNSF) via Kettle Falls (branch via Laurier and Grand Forks BC - where there is interchange with Grand Forks Railway - to Danville) and Boundary to Columbia Gardens BC. Total length of line about 130 miles (212 km)
• Longview Switching Company switching railway in Longview, jointly owned by BNSF and Union Pacific, interchanging with those railways and with Columbia & Cowlitz (No website located at present)
• Montana Rail Link located mainly in ID and MT, reaches Spokane by trackage rights over BNSF from Sandpoint ID
• Mount Vernon Terminal Railway switching railway in Mount Vernon, interchanging with BNSF at Shilshole Bay. Length of line a little over ¼ mile (0.6 km) (No website located at present)
• Palouse River & Coulee City Railroad several distinct lines:
  • Thornton via Winona (branch to Colfax, where an exchange with Washington & Idaho is currently out of use) to Hooper Junction (interchange with Union Pacific and trackage rights over Union Pacific to Ayer Junction - see Great Northwest Railroad, and next item)
  • Wallula (interchange with BNSF and trackage rights over BNSF to Ayer Junction - see Great Northwest Railroad, and previous item) via Walla Walla (branches to Weston OR and to Walair) to Dayton
  • Arlington OR (interchange with Union Pacific) to Shutler OH
• Patriot Woods Railroad Ostrander Junction (interchange with Columbia & Cowlitz) to Green Mountain Mill, Toutle, about 22 miles (35 km)
• Pend Oreille Valley Railroad Dover ID (interchange with BNSF and Union Pacific) via Newport to Metaline Falls WA, about 87 miles (140 km). No direct connection with any other railway in WA
• Portland Vancouver Junction Railroad Rye Junction (interchange with BNSF and trackage rights over BNSF from Vancouver) to Chelatchie; about 33 miles (53 km)
• Puget Sound & Pacific Railroad Ruth via Chehalis (interchange with BNSF and trackage rights over BNSF to Centralia, see below), Blakeslee Junction (branch to Centralia, see above), Elma (branch to Hoquiam), Shelton (interchange with Simpson Timber), Bremerton Junction near Wesco (branch via Bremerton to Puget Sound Naval Dockyard) and Bangor to Bangor Naval Supply Depot. Total length of line about 131 miles (211 km)
• Simpson Lumber Company has an 11 mile (18 km) private line connecting its dry sort yard at Dayton with its mills at Shelton (interchange with Puget Sound & Pacific) (Website contains no information relating to railway)
• Tacoma Rail several distinct groups of lines:
  • switching services in the Port of Tacoma, interchanging with BNSF and Union Pacific. Total length of line about 38 miles (61 km)
  • Olympia (interchange with Tri-City & Olympia) to Belmore, about 9 miles (15 km)
  • Saint Clair (interchange with BNSF and Union Pacific) to Quadlock, about 3 miles (5 km)
  • Nisqually (interchange with BNSF and Union Pacific) to Lakeview (interchange with BNSF), about 15 miles (24 km)
  • Tacoma (interchange with BNSF and Union Pacific) via Frederickston (branch to Morton) and Blakeslee Junction (interchange with Puget Sound & Pacific) to Chehalis (interchange with BNSF). Total length of line about 132 miles (212 km)
• Tri-City & Olympia Railroad two separate lines:
  • East Olympia (interchange with BNSF and Union Pacific) to Olympia (interchange with Tacoma Rail). About 7 miles (11 km), with a further 2 miles (3 km) of switching lines in Olympia
  • Richland (interchange with BNSF and Union Pacific) to the Department of Energy Hanford Site, about 18 miles (29 km)
• Washington & Idaho Railway Marshall (interchange with BNSF and Union Pacific) via Palouse (branch to Princeton ID) and Pullman to Moscow ID. A branch from Pullman to Colfax (where there would be interchage with Palouse River & Coulee City) has been out of use for through traffic since 2006 following flood damage to bridges, but it used for storage of freight cars (No website located at present)

Train Ferry

• Alaska Rail Marine Seattle (interchange with BNSF and Union Pacific) to Whittier AK (interchange with Alaska Railroad)

© 2007-2011 Glyn Williams
US flag image from CIA World Factbook
Washington State flag image from Wikipedia
Special thanks to SPV for their excellent Railroad Atlases