# Rail passenger service to return to the Washington Palouse???



## JayPea (May 14, 2009)

In yesterday's Pullman(WA)-Moscow(ID) Daily News, the area where I live, there was an article discussing the possibility of commuter rail passenger service between Spokane and Pullman-Moscow. (Sorry I don't have a link to the article; I'm too cheap to shell out 7 bucks a month for an online subscription  ) What was interesting to me is that the discussion arose after a series of projects by structural landscaping students and their professor at Washington State University, which is located in Pullman, that studied the possibiity. Students took surveys to gauge interest in rail travel here and business students at another nearby university, Eastern Washington University, did market research and analysis regarding the possible project. Apparently there is a lot of interest by students in commuter rail between Spokane and Pullman, as well as Moscow, which is home to the University of Idaho. There has been no passenger rail service anywhere near here, other than at Spokane, since the mid 1960's, when the Northern Pacific ran passenger service between Spokane and Lewiston, ID, about 40 miles south of Pullman. NP utilized Budd Rail Diesel Cars for that service. In a couple of weeks, the groups will put on a public presentation of their findings. Besides students, there seems to be a lot of support from the general population as well. Schweitzer Engineering, in Pullman, is the biggest employer aside from WSU in the area, and officials there are very supportive, as many of their employees haven't been able to find housing in Pullman and commute. County commissioners, the director of the Port district in our county, which oversees transportation issues, is on board, so to speak :lol: and so is the Washington Department of Transportation. If there is enough public interest, the students are determined to see it all come to fruition.

Money, of course, is a big consideration, though the tracks are already in place, being used by a busy short line, and the state has poured a lot of money into rehabilitating this particular line, so the tracks should be in decent shape. What the service would consist of is anyone's guess. It was speculated that the Budd cars might return.

I don't know if there is enough population to make it go, even if the vast majority of the area is for it, but at least it's a dream and a goal. If rural, lightly populated areas such as this one can make a go of it then there should be no reason that other rural areas couldn't, either.


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