PNWER outlines "high-performance rail" strategy to speed freight, expand passenger service in Pacific Northwest

Representatives of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) presented an overview of “high‑performance rail” and regional supply‑chain planning to the Oregon Joint Committee on Transportation during an informational session. PNWER regional infrastructure director Bruce Agnew and high‑performance rail program manager Tom Lang outlined a multi‑state approach to identifying projects, securing federal grants and coordinating freight and passenger investments.

PNWER framed the work as a supply‑chain and corridor strategy that pairs public funding with private investment. “We will also be identifying transportation projects to reduce supply chain costs,” Bruce Agnew said, arguing that lower transportation costs can help dampen inflation. PNWER described a new Build Northwest Council of transportation committee members from the five Northwest states and invited Oregon legislators to PNWER summits in Bellevue and Portland this year.

Tom Lang described why rail matters for freight and passenger mobility and the technical steps that increase corridor capacity and reliability. “Rail is the most efficient mode of land transportation,” Lang said, noting that a gallon of fuel moves far more tonnage by rail than by truck and that electrified yards and hydrogen technology could enable near‑zero emission supply chains. Lang highlighted three “high performance rail” interventions: grade separations and crossing eliminations, siding extensions and turnouts to allow trains to pass, and bundled corridor projects that raise speeds and capacity.

PNWER and presenters cited recent and proposed projects in Oregon as examples: the Harrisburg rail reconstruction (which increased allowable speeds on the Union Pacific mainline), the North Portland Junction and Peninsula Junction projects, the Coos Bay rail line upgrades led by the Port of Coos Bay, and planned work including the Eugene layover siding project and crossovers that would raise speeds near northwest Portland freight yards. Lang said some projects have a mix of state, federal and private funding—citing, for example, Connect Oregon awards and funding contributions from Union Pacific and Amtrak on prior junction projects.

The presenters described programming and financing tools that state and local leaders can use to assemble projects: discretionary USDOT grants such as CRISI and INFRA, the Build America Bureau’s credit programs including TIFIA and the Railroad Rehabilitation & Improvement Financing (RRIF) loan program, and state matching programs including Connect Oregon. Agnew said PNWER’s accelerator has received federal support and that PNWER is proposing a Northwest Supply Chain DOT Research Project to assemble multimodal trade profiles and identify investments across I‑5, I‑84 and the Columbia‑Snake River system.

Private‑sector and short‑line perspectives were represented by Ross Lane, board president of the Oregon Rail Users League and assistant vice president for government affairs at Genesee & Wyoming, who described short lines as the “first mile, last mile” of the supply chain and urged expanded public‑private partnerships and grant funding to complete projects otherwise unaffordable to private owners.

PNWER stressed the political and practical advantages of coordinated, multi‑state grant requests. Agnew told legislators PNWER will coordinate with governors’ offices, state DOTs and the Northwest congressional delegation to align requests and messaging ahead of reauthorization of federal surface transportation programs in 2026.

The presentation closed with a note on Union Station in Portland: PNWER and partners said station improvements and track work at Union Station would be a high‑performance rail project that also supports downtown transit‑oriented redevelopment and could involve public‑private financing and a Build America Bureau loan.

PNWER invited committee members to a Greater Northwest Rail Summit in Portland in October and encouraged ongoing coordination between Oregon, neighboring states and private railroads.

Ending: Presenters said federal grant and credit programs are available now but urged legislators to advance coordinated state strategies and local match financing to capture the funds. PNWER staff offered to follow up with agency and congressional offices on loan and grant packaging for projects such as the Coos Bay corridor.