SALINA, Kan. (AP) - Kansas transportation officials are considering several cities as possible sites for facilities that would load and unload products brought by trucks onto trains.
Transportation Secretary Mike King said the proposal will require six to eight months of further study to determine the size of a facility, which would cost about $5 million. He said the state has funding available for two transloading facilities.
King and other members of Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration were in Salina Tuesday to talk to city officials privately about the project, which would serve businesses and industries within a 45- to 50-mile radius.
Other cities under consideration are Abilene, Attica, Coffeyville, Colby, Columbus, Concordia, Dodge City, Garden City, Gardner, Hutchinson, McPherson, Marysville, Newton, Pittsburg, Scandia, Wellington, Wichita and Winfield, The Salina Journal reported (https://bit.ly/1osIo9G ). King said the cities under consideration are “key corridors of significance.”
A transloading operation would be large enough for entire trains to load and unload products trucked in and out by local and area firms, with a goal of reducing transportation costs.
“Fifteen percent of all product cost is transportation related,” King said.
Salina has two small single-use transloading operations but the state is planning a much larger operation capable of handling several products from different manufacturers.
“A facility would be where we can get a train off of a main-line track and get it loaded with probably a minimum of 60 to 80 cars of a like product so that the main line can pick it up and get it going again,” he said.
The train cars would be filled with the same product that would travel to a destination without adding or dropping cars, saving the shipper money and time.
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Information from: The Salina (Kan.) Journal, https://www.salina.com
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