Wenatchee R., photo by C. Hamilton
Wenatchee R., photo by C. Hamilton
All Aboard Northwest News Event Wrap-Up: 2024 Greater Northwest Rail Summit

Event Wrap-Up: 2024 Greater Northwest Rail Summit

For generations, railroads have been the lifeblood of the Greater Northwest, moving locally-grown goods, fueling economic growth, connecting communities and shaping a vast, interconnected landscape. Today, the legacy of the freight and passenger rail system has an opportunity to counter decades of underinvestment by leveraging the nation’s increased interest in the railroad.

The Greater Northwest Rail Summit, held Oct. 8 & 9 in Spokane, WA, and co-hosted by the PNWER Regional Infrastructure Accelerator program and All Aboard Northwest, brought together industry leaders, rail experts and advocates to discuss the future of our region’s rail network – and ways in which we can work together to transform the system to better serve the customers and communities that rely on its service.

Funding The Rail Renaissance

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) passed by Congress in 2021 is bringing an unprecedented amount of funding to our region’s highways, bridges, transit, airports, and railroads. Rail is a critical component of the BIL’s mission, and the legislation has brought capital investments and carbon reduction to our supply chains, increased community safety and passenger rail services, and expedited the transfer of commodities to ports and global markets with lower costs and fewer emissions. As we enter this new era of federal investment, we encourge partnerships between our region’s Class I (BNSF and UP) and short line railroads, Amtrak, Tribal nations, state DOTs, local communities, ports, shippers and logistics companies for joint investment. The partnerships will help eliminate bottlenecks, enhance inter and multi-modal transfers and connections and increase reliability.

Rail Summit Session Highlights

The Greater Northwest Rail Summit aimed to educate and align freight and passenger rail experts around the shared goal of investing in potential rail infrastructure projects in the Greater Northwest region. Explore rail summit highlights and recordings below.

Day 1

Rail as an Economic Accelerator: The rail summit kicked off with rail experts exploring how passenger rail service can catalyze economic development in rural communities.

Renaissance for Passenger Rail across America: From Washington DC to Your Local Depot: Dr. Santiago Cruz-Roveda, supervisory transportation specialist at the Federal Railroad Administration, shared an overview of the Corridor Identification and Development (CID) program and relevant timelines for CID projects in the Northwest. Nicole Bucich, vice president of network development at Amtrak, added that intercity passenger rail projects will provide numerous environmental, economic and mobility benefits to communities along existing corridors, and offer riders traveling productivity – a valued commodity that driving does not offer.

Looking Ahead at the National Rail Network: During this session, experts examined the pace at which rail initiatives are approved and how we can leverage rail’s bipartisan appeal to enact positive change and drive progress.

Green Farms to Green Ports: From agricultural producers to short line railroad operators, this session focused on how rail supports our regional supply chains. Experts discussed how short lines serve as critical corridors that support local economies, global trade and the success of our inland port authorities.

Summit Town Hall: High Performance Rail Project Brainstorm: High level visions must be accompanied by specific project ideas. Rail summit attendees were invited to share ideas and potential infrastructure projects that advance High Performance Rail in the northwest. View the ideas submitted by attendees here.

Day 2

Northwest Rail Networks and Port Terminals: Strategies and Partnerships: The rail summit’s second day began with a look at the state of public and private investment in our region’s Class I and short line railroads, inland port authorities, and seaports.

Preparing Rural Communities for Passenger Rail Tourism: This session highlighted the powerful role rail tourism can play in local economic development as well as the challenges to building a sustainable tourism industry in a rural community.

Town to Town: Knitting Together a Multi-state Rail Corridor: Restoring passenger rail service across multiple state lines requires immense cooperation and coordination. In eastern Oregon, Utah, and southern Montana, this is happening at the local grassroots level. Panelists shared their efforts to establish community support for passenger rail and move regional planning forward.

Lunch Plenary: During this session, we heard messages from U.S. Senator Jon Tester and Missoula, MT Mayor Andrea Davis, who emphasized that the investments in railroads will have lasting impacts on families and communities throughout the Greater Northwest.

Green Rail Infrastructure: Saving Salmon & Enhancing Air Quality: In this session we learned about two types of rail infrastructure projects that enhance our environment.

Passenger Rail as a Healthcare Lifeline: For many rural communities in the U.S., access to specialty healthcare remains a significant challenge, often requiring residents to travel long distances for basic services. This issue is particularly pressing for tribal communities. HollyAnna Littlebull explained that not having multimodal transportation options, such as passenger rail, makes it difficult for residents to reach metropolitan areas, the only places where many critical healthcare services exist.

Rail Advocacy in 2025: Input From All Corners: Policymakers from Washington, Oregon and Montana underscored the need for a Greater Northwest Rail Caucus to facilitate cross-state collaboration.

Rail Summit Outcomes and Next Steps

This year’s Greater Northwest Rail Summit – the largest and most robust to date – brought together a diverse group of industry leaders, policymakers and advocates to discuss our region’s rail renaissance. With strong attendance and a packed agenda, the rail summit facilitated numerous meaningful conversations vital in shaping the future of the Greater Northwest’s freight and passenger rail network.

Thiese initiatives and projects were identified as some of the top priorities for the region over the coming year:

Speaker & Attendee Appreciation

The Greater Northwest Rail Summit was made valuable from the energetic participation of the moderators, panelists and attendees who joined the conversation in Spokane and online.