BY ANDY TAYLOR
chronicle@taylornews.org

CHERRYVALE — Construction of the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad’s new railyard began Tuesday when the first clumps of dirt were turned at a ceremony attended by dignitaries and dozens of railroad employees.

The new switch yard — where freight cars will be switched on a daily basis — will be built at an area four miles north of Cherryvale. The switch yard will be located easet of U.S. 169 highway and south of U.S. 400 highway between county roads 5800 and 6000. The switch yard will include as many as six miles of switching tracks for the transfer and exchange of as many as 50,000 rail cars per year, said Rick Webb, chief executive officer of Watco, Inc., the parent company of the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad.

Webb said the current switch yard — now located in the middle of the Cherryvale business district — is not suitable for the railroad company or for the Cherryvale community. That’s why relocating the switching area would be a “win-win situation for everyone impacted,” Webb said.

“Our traffic through Cherryvale has increased greatly over the years, and rail cars come into town each day from five different directions,” he said. “That’s simply not an ideal situation for us or for the community.”

Construction of the switching area will be among the largest projects undertaken by Watco, Inc., which operates more than 4,000 miles of short-line railroads in 19 different states. In southeast Kansas and northeast Oklahoma, each of Watco’s short-line railroads is funneled through Cherryvale, making it the destination for all Watco-owned trains in the two-state region.

Ed McKechnie, Watco, chief commercial officer, gave credit to State Sen. Derek Schmidt, R-Independence, for urging a resolution to the many years of frustration voiced by Cherryvale residents and the downtown Cherryvale railyard. A meeting between Schmidt, McKechnie and various Cherryvale officials took place in 2007, starting the path toward locating land for new railyard. From the state governmental level, Schmidt worked with Kansas Department of Transportation Secretary Deb Miller to locate funding sources to assist with the railyard relocation effort.

“This is a great example of everyone working together,” said McKechnie.

City administrator Greg McDanel voiced appreciation for the project, noting that the frustrations in Cherryvale not only were built on the inconvenience of blocked rail crossings but also by uncertainty of local public safety services responding to emergency services. By relocating the switching area to an area north of Cherryvale, public safety personnel “can rest a little easier” knowing their response times will be improved, McDanel told the crowd at Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony.

Schmidt also noted that the relocation of the railyard not only will help the Cherryvale situation but also promote the railroad’s economic potential. He noted the site around the new railyard could be developed in the future for possible industry expansion. He also noted that the railyard would be located near the intersection of the U.S. 400-169 highways — two major transcontinental arteries. He also noted the nearby presence of the Parsons Tri-City Airport and the fact that the railyard would be the region’s primary connection to the Port of Catoosa near Tulsa, Okla. That port serves as the region’s lone waterway source to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico.

Construction of the railyard will require two phases with an anticipated completion in fall 2010.