BNSF Railroad upgrades

Odds of federal funding to upgrade track on state-owned railroads through Whitman County are likely nil until the North-South freeway is built in Spokane.

Port of Whitman County commissioners got an update on funding for the railroad it oversees from Bob Westby, the newly-appointed overseer of the state-owned shortline system for the state Department of Transportation.

“I didn’t even know we owned a railroad,” said Westby.

The port applied for a federal grant from the Transportation Improvement Generating Economic Recovery program (TIGER) to upgrade track to the planned unit train loader at Mc...