Senators highlight coal, grain rail issues

   While BNSF and Canadian Pacific have been focusing on creating more capacity for grain shipments at the behest of the Surface Transportation Board, Senators from the Midwest have raised concerns that grain capacity is still not sufficient. At the same time, coal shippers are seeing reduced capacity.
   In a letter to the STB, Senator Chuck Grassley wrote that the Dairyland Power Cooperative is running short on fuel because it can’t get enough coal to its two facilities along the Mississippi River due to capacity issues with BNSF. The cooperative supplies electricity to Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois, the senator wrote. Supporting documentation from the company puts its customer base at 600,000 people.
   While both of its plants are low on coal, the company said its power plant in Genoa, Wisc., best epitomizes the dire straits the company faces. The Genoa plant does not have any direct rail access and thus has to receive coal by barge during a limited shipping season running from May to October. It will run out of coal in February if BNSF can’t increase service to the facility, the company said.
   The company said service issues cropped up last fall and were made worse by the winter weather. It said that BNSF has not provided adequate solutions for coal shortages, so the company has had to truck coal loads from up to 80 miles away, reduce power generation to preserve coal, and purchase fuel from other sources.
   “To reduce this serious inventory shortage at Genoa the BNSF will need to reverse their substandard performance and triple the normal pace of deliveries for the remainder of the shipping season,” the company said. “The BNSF has publicly stated to overcome delivery challenges they will focus resources to avoid a customer having to halt operations. Unfortunately, Dairyland has not seen any such focus of resources from BNSF to ensure our plants are not forced to shut down.”
Democratic representatives Tim Waltz and Ron Kind also wrote to the STB on Dairyland’s behalf, asking for the agency to step in to resolve the issue.
   “In the past, BNSF has committed to escalate and focus resources when a customer is facing a severe service issue that could halt operations. This commitment is commendable, and we believe it is a starting point for solving these current service delays. To facilitate communication about this problem and coordination of possible solutions, we believe STB leadership is needed.”
   Grain shippers in the Midwest are still seeing capacity shortages despite weekly improvement from the two major railroads in the area. In a letter to the STB last week, John Thune, R-S.D., ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said there are major backlogs in South Dakota.
   “Freight rail service in South Dakota remains inconsistent for all shippers, including grain shippers, who are still facing extreme backlogs from last year’s harvest at the same time farmers are starting this season’s harvest and attempting to move this year’s crops to market,” he wrote. “It is especially critical for wheat producers, whose harvest has begun and who are finding that elevators have little to no space for their product.”
   While he said the efforts of BNSF and CP are now more transparent and shippers can see that the railroads are trying to improve, more must be done. He suggested that the railroads include average turn rate data in their weekly reports to the STB because this would give shippers a more complete picture of the grain-movement situation. He also requested that CP be ordered to report the number of locomotives it provides to RCP&E because, he said, CP has not been staying true to the agreement that was laid out when Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern Railroad was sold.
“South Dakota’s farmers and shippers depend on precious few rail lines to take their products to market. Their livelihood requires efficient reliable service,” he said. “This year is the worst I’ve seen in South Dakota when it comes to the lack of storage capacity in grain elevators, as a result of inefficient grain movements during the long winter and the system-wide delays with rail car movements.”
To keep shippers apprised of the evolving rail situation in South Dakota, Thune has devoted a section of his website where he will disseminate the latest information.