State of tracks makes Kettle Falls Railway inefficient

Parts of the track are in poor shape, says a recently released report on the Kettle Falls International Railway (KFR), the Grand Forks, Idaho, Gazette reports. Entitled "City of Grand Forks Shortline Railway Business Case Final Report," the purpose of the report was to provide information to city council on the preservation of the local rail service and the state of some of the crossties on the train tracks, a major maintenance issue on the KFR. The last time a major crosstie replacement took place was in 1989, and because of the condition of some crossties and joints a train can only be operated at 10 miles per hour. The railway services Danville, Wash., through Grand Forks and Christina Lake to Kettle Falls, Wash., The report stated that half of the portion of the track in the U.S. does not adhere to the minimum Federal Railroad Administration maintenance standards. Because of the slow speed, trains are unable to leave Kettle Falls for Grand Forks and return to Kettle falls in one trip. Coun. Gene Robert said that a Class 1 standard allows for the current 10 mph while a Class 2 would allow for 25 mph. "The point behind this that is important is, considering the notion that it is only a Class 1 category, it has an economic spin to it, in that it takes the train longer to do a round trip," he said. "Instead of doing it in one day, they would have to do it in two days." The report stated because of that problem, operational costs are effectively twice as high. It said that "without immediate capital improvements," the line would eventually become unusable.