Port of Benton terminates local railroad company lease after 10+ years of legal spats
A Tri-Cities port has terminated a lease with a railroad company over a maintenance dispute, but the railroad says this is just the latest in a legal fight dating back more than a decade.
The Port of Benton announced Wednesday that it had ended its lease with Tri-City Railroad Co., which was operating the port’s Southern Connection rail network, according to a news release from the port.
The connection is a 16-mile-long rail line running between Center Parkway in Kennewick and Horn Rapids Road in north Richland.
The lease termination, effective June 17, came after a Benton County Superior Court ruled in May that Tri-City Railroad was in default on its lease because the company had not properly maintained the rail system.
The move follows a 2018 attempt to evict Tri-City Railroad, in a bid by the port and the city of Richland to extend Center Parkway behind the Columbia Center Mall.
The railroad opposed the move, filing a federal whistleblower lawsuit.
At the time, the Tri-City Herald reported that the railroad alleged the city and port were actively working to undermine its relationships with the long-haul railroads, and that it was forced to move its switching activities from the Richland Junction to UP-owned facilities in downtown Kennewick in 2011.
The recently settled lawsuit is just the latest in a series of disputes between the two entities.
Herald records also show the two have clashed repeatedly over the use of the line, which culminated in a 2009 lawsuit. That litigation was settled in 2011 in favor of the port.
Rydel Peterson, an attorney representing the railroad, told the Tri-City Herald that while the railroad had agreed to a settlement with the port, it was essentially a matter of the railroad fighting to maintain its business until it became unsustainable. The railroad has vacated its offices at 2579 Stevens Dr. in Richland, and has handed off operations of the rail line.
“It’s been an ongoing fight and struggle, and at the end of the day the taxpayer-funded litigant prevailed over the small business,” Peterson said. “They basically ran out of money.”
Peterson said that the fight over more than a decade has led to the demise of the small railroad company. He said that while it does have other business interests, and won’t be shuttering completely, he feels as if they’ve been run out of town.
“It’s just kind of a cautionary tale,” he said. “Make sure you pay attention to who’s running your local municipalities and districts, because if they set their sights on you and don’t like you they have the backing of the taxpayers to run you out of business.”
The port said in its news release that it is in the process of establishing a contract with a new company, RailWorks, to manage rail inspections and maintenance on the line until a new operator is in place. The port also said that Advance Signal & Contracting will be taking over signal maintenance and inspection.
Until the new railroad company contract is established, anyone with rail-related emergencies, problems or needs at the 2579 Stevens Dr. building in Richland, should contact the port’s 24-hour monitored line at 509-375-3060.
