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On Tuesday, the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) announced it will acquire 29 more hopper cars this week for the state’s Grain Train program. The agency purchased the refurbished cars for $362,500.

The user-fee-based Grain Train program — which was launched in 1994 and currently has access to 118 rail cars — provides farmers a dedicated car fleet to help them ship wheat for export. WSDOT jointly manages the program with the ports of Walla Walla, Moses Lake and Whitman County.

Eastern Washington grain growers use the cars to transport their wheat to deepwater ports along the Columbia River and Puget Sound for delivery to Pacific Rim markets. The hopper cars will be assigned to collect grain between Coulee City and Cheney, Wash., and transport the cargo to Ritzville via the state-owned Palouse River and Coulee City (PCC) rail system.

"Putting dozens of additional rail cars in service helps Washington farmers and our state’s economy by facilitating the export of our state’s grain products,” said Washington Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond in a prepared statement.