Increase in train traffic raises concerns

There’s no question that there will be an increase in train activity passing through Cheney and the West Plains in the near future.

There is a $26 million shuttle loading grain terminal scheduled to be built at the intersection of Craig and Medical-Lake-Four Lakes roads. Grain cooperatives organized under Highline Grain LLC will assemble and load 110-car unit trains. Burlington Northern Santa Fe engines will pick up these trains and haul them back to BNSF lines intersecting at Cheney via the Eastern Washington Gateway branch of the Palouse River Coulee City Railway.

There is also a new rail sp...