Editorials / Opinion

Ballard Terminal Railroad has no standing

We in Kirkland expect the city will prevail quickly in the frivolous federal lawsuit filed by Ballard Terminal Railroad which has no business whatsoever with the city of Kirkland [“Railroad files lawsuit to block Kirkland’s removal of tracks,” NWFriday, April 5]. That private company has no legal standing and the case is without merit.

BNSF Railway wisely sold the railway, and Ballard Terminal Railroad did not buy it, because they knew that it no longer had economic value for freight. If it did, they would have clearly been happy to run their trains on it as that is their business.

A private company has no standing to require that myriad public owners that purchased the railway be forced to maintain and secure it for the that single private company’s profit that conflicts with the legal owner’s plans that will benefit the community who paid for it.

Ballard Terminal Railroad should be ashamed of itself for wasting taxpayer dollars by pursuing this litigation.

David Wall, Kirkland