Elko officials see Railport as step toward diversification

The opening of the Northeastern Nevada Regional Railport on the eastern edge of Elko will go a long way to diversification of Elko County's economy, county officials say.

The roughly 60-acre facility already has been used by Ruby Pipeline LLC for several shipments of pipe for the company's Ruby Pipeline Project. Despite freezing conditions, a host of local dignitaries and business leaders turned out to mark the official opening of the $10 million transloading facility two weeks ago.

A transloading facility allows freight to be moved from rail to trucks and from trucks to rail.

Savage Services of Salt Lake City was contracted to manage transloading services at the facility and will operate under a private-public revenue-sharing agreement with the county, says Sheri Eklund-Brown, Elko County commissioner and member of the railport committee.

However, the primary source of revenue for the county government is expected to be the taxes generated by businesses springing up in the industrial park surrounding the facility, Eklund-Brown says.

Elko's been dependent on the mining industry, and the strong employment and high wages offered by mining companies have softened the effects of the recession in Elko County, County Manager Rob Stokes says. The railport helps prepare the region for the inevitable days ahead when the gold mining slows.

"We love mining here, and there is no doubt that mining is our major industry," Stokes says. "We enjoy those benefits. However, the only reason mining works is that there are minerals in the ground to be extracted. Someday we will be looking at having a different economy in this area."

The Northeastern Nevada Regional Railport not only serves current industry but also will lead to the development of additional industry in the long term, Stokes says.

The railport may not look like much now mostly barren ground and a set of train tracks but Elko County executives feel the facility has the potential to lure companies to the industrial-zoned area surrounding the train tracks. Two companies, metals recycler Pacific Steel and Liebherr Mining Equipment Co., already have constructed facilities at the site to utilize railport services.

Stokes says other companies are looking into developing facilities at the railport site as well. Businesses that have purchased land fronting the rail tracks include Spirit Minerals, SAS Global and Ormaza Construction.

"This provides a port for goods to be brought into the area, or if they are generated here, they can be moved out of this area," Stokes says. "We hope it will provide some benefit to our existing economy and industries now, and in the future provide the opportunity for diversification so that other businesses that aren't here now can relocate."

Economic development officials have said the facility could serve companies from southern Idaho through much of eastern Nevada.

Eklund-Brown says the county invested a large amount of taxpayer money into the facility so that the region won't be so dependent on the mining industry. The railport also will provide an excellent recruiting tool for businesses interested in relocating to the area, she says.

"We do expect to have mining and mining-related businesses, and some of the mines will utilize the railport, which will help reimburse the taxpayers' investment and provide for full utilization of the railport," she says. "Our hope for the present and future of Elko County is that facility will drive other companies and industries in the greater western region to the location there with its affordable land, water and other services."

Much of the cost of the project went toward installation of more than a mile of track from the Union Pacific's main line to the railport site.

The Nevada Commission on Economic Development helped facilitate nearly $1 million in funding for the project, and Union Pacific provided switches and other services totaling nearly $1 million.

Pam Borda, executive director of the Elko County Economic Diversification Authority, says there is a great deal of excitement in the region over the opening of the railport, an idea that began taking shape in 2005.

"There are millions of dollars invested into the development of the railport, and lots of folks were involved in the construction of it," she says. "It was a huge undertaking."