Kansas Department of Transportation

Kansas Department of Transportation officials have begun work to identify possible locations for construction of rail transloading facilities. It is anticipated that an announcement of facility locations will be made within a year.

Colby is on the short list of cities that could possible become the home of the facility.

A consultant will be hired to assist KDOT in selecting the most logical locations for a facility, how big it should be, how many should be built and how such a facility should be operated.

Transloading is the process of moving goods from one mode of transportation to another, or in this case, from truck to rail and rail to truck. By blending the benefits of shipping by rail and local/short haul trucking, a transload facility can provide more flexible and cost-effective solutions for customers who may not have local access to freight rail service or those who need expanded warehousing.

Transportation Secretary Mike King discussed the idea of constructing transloading operations in Kansas during a meeting in Salina last week.

“The need for transloading facilities was identified by the state’s Freight Advisory Committee in April,” King said. “Transportation typically makes up 15 percent of product cost so anything we can do to lower that is important to Kansas farmers, manufacturers and the state economy.”

Cities under consideration are Abilene, Attica, Coffeyville, Colby, Columbus, Concordia, Dodge City, Garden City, Gardner, Hutchinson, McPherson, Marysville, Newton, Pittsburg, Salina, Scandia, Wellington, Wichita and Winfield.