Gov. Rendell Announces PA Freight Grants

PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR RENDELL ANNOUNCES FUNDING FOR RAIL GRANTS THAT PROMOTE JOBS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, REPAIR FLOOD DAMAGE: Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell today announced his approval of more than $3.5 million in grants to five short-line railroads to repair infrastructure damage caused by flooding from Hurricane Ivan. The Governor also approved nearly $6.9 million for an additional eight rail freight improvement projects. "Restoring service to these flood-damaged railroads will support the local economy and retain jobs," Governor Rendell said. "These rail infrastructure repairs and improvements will help keep the freight moving from our communities and employers to major rail freight carriers around the nation." Projects receiving capital budget funding for repairing flood damage include:

* Allegheny Valley Railroad Co., Scottsdale -- $687,689 to reestablish rail service on six miles of the P & W subdivision and to reconnect main line access along 27 miles of the W & P subdivision in Allegheny and Washington counties.
* Delaware & Hudson Railway Co., Inc., Clifton Park, OH -- $392,000 for repairs along 128 miles of the railroad's main line in Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, Columbia and Susquehanna counties.
* Lackawanna County Rail Authority, Scranton -- $100,000, to repair a retaining wall along the Laurel line.
* Pittsburgh & Ohio Central Railroad Inc., McKees Rocks -- $2.1 million for infrastructure repair along 43 miles of rail in Allegheny and Washington counties.
* Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co., Brewster, OH -- $266,770 for repairs along 30 miles of the Pittsburgh subdivision. Other capital budget rail freight improvement projects approved by the Governor include:
o Air Products, Allentown -- $1.2 million to clear obstructions over the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad main line between Dupont and Lehighton in Carbon and Luzerne counties to permit shipping of oversized rail cars.
o Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Co., Monroeville -- $553,787 for main line rehabilitation in Crawford, Erie and Mercer counties.
o Duferco Farrell Corporation, Farrell -- $315,632 to rehabilitate and construct track in its Mercer County plant.
o Ellwood National Forge, LLC, Irvine -- $420,000 to rehabilitate and replace rail infrastructure at the Warren County facility.
o Lehigh Valley Industrial Park, Bethlehem -- $2,711,706 to help construct a new rail freight intermodal facility at the Bethlehem Commerce Center, Northampton County, a former brownfield site.
o Reading, Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad, Port Clinton -- $757,980 for engineering studies for a bridge over the Lehigh River in Carbon County and for track rehabilitation in Berks and Schuylkill counties.
o RJ Corman Railroad, Nicholasville, KY -- $1 million for track rehabilitation in Cambria, Centre, Clearfield and Indiana counties. (Office of Pennsylvania Governor Rendell, Randy Kotuby - posted 2/24)

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/se ... eight.html

Lots of interesting stuff here:

Governor Rendell Announces $38.5 Million Investment in Rail Freight

Investments to Benefit Nearly 50 Communities



HARRISBURG – Governor Edward G. Rendell today announced the investment of $30 million as part of PennDOT’s Rail Freight Capital Budget/Transportation Assistance program and a separate $8.5 million in Rail Freight Assistance grants.



“Pennsylvania’s rail industry is a staple of our economy, supplying thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in revenue,” Governor Rendell said. “These funds will be invested in safety and efficiency upgrades that will help stimulate local economies and better serve businesses.”



Governor Rendell added $10 million to this year’s Capital program, bringing the total to $30 million. The program is funded through state capital bond dollars in the General Fund. The grants, authorized by the General Assembly, are administered by PennDOT’s Bureau of Rail Freight, Ports & Waterways.



In addition, PennDOT administers a separate grant program paid for with General Fund dollars.



All of these grants were approved Thursday by the 15-member State Transportation Commission.



Railroad companies, transportation organizations, municipalities, municipal authorities and users of rail freight infrastructure with a line item on an active capital budget act are eligible for the funding.

Pennsylvania has more than 6,000 rail miles and more than 7,000 Pennsylvanians are employed by freight railroads.



###



The Rendell administration is committed to creating a first-rate public education system, protecting our most vulnerable citizens and continuing economic investment to support our communities and businesses. To find out more about Governor Rendell's initiatives and to sign up for his weekly newsletter, visit: www.governor.state.pa.us.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is a list of capital grant recipients, the amount of funding and a brief description of the projects. (General Fund grants are listed separately, below).



Allegheny County

· USS Real Estate Division of USSC — $3.2 million to improve infrastructure within the Mon Valley Works.



Allegheny and Washington counties

· Allegheny Valley Railroad Co. — $728,000 to rehabilitate track through ballast replacement, shoulder cleaning, realignment and surfacing.

· Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad — $521,200 to repair 20 bridge pedestals and replace crossties on the state main line.



Armstrong County

· Kiski Junction Railroad, Inc. — $4 million to extend a rail spur to provide service to an expanding coal mine.



Bucks and Philadelphia counties

· CSX Transportation Inc. — $4 million to improve overhead clearances at 16 locations in CSX’s Trenton Subdivision.



Chester County

· East Penn Railroad LLC — $557,200 for track rehabilitation and to upgrade six at-grade crossings along the Octoraro Branch.



Clearfield County

· River Hill Coal Co. — $630,000 to construct 6,000 feet of track to re-establish service to a coal mine.

· RJ Corman Railroad Group — $963,900 to rehabilitate the Shawville tunnel.



Clinton County

· Clinton County — $504,000 to continue track rehabilitation and complete the connection to Norfolk Southern for the Renovo Rail railcar repair facility.



Elk County

· Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad, Inc. — $1.5 million to connect the Allegheny & Eastern and the Buffalo & Pittsburgh main lines in Johnsonburg to bypass the Johnsonburg Yard for thru trains.



Erie County

· Greater Erie Industrial Development Corp. — $660,000 to continue track construction on the North Yard parcel of the former International Paper site.



Lackawanna and Luzerne counties

· The Redevelopment Authority of Luzerne County — $714,000 for new bridge timbers, restoring proper track elevation on the Spring Brook Bridge, and track rehabilitation on the Wilkes-Barre Secondary and Avoca Yard.



Lawrence County

· Ellwood Industrial Facilities Co. — $784,000 for tie and rail replacement, correction of alignment and surface defects and the rehabilitation and replacement of existing turnouts and diamond crossings.



Mercer County

· Duferco Farrell Corp. — $721,700 to rehabilitate and upgrade yard track within the plant facilities.



Montour County

· United States Gypsum — $3.1 million to construct industrial tracks to service the new Sheetrock© plant in Washingtonville.



Northampton County

· The County of Northampton — $679,000 for siding construction at the new Forks Business Center to serve Henningsen Cold Storage.



Philadelphia County

· CSX Transportation Inc. — $1.5 million to construct new track connecting CSX’s Trenton Subdivision with Conrail’s Engleside connection track at Park Junction.



Snyder County

· Sunbury Generation LP — $4.6 million to rehabilitate and upgrade track and upgrade a rotary rail dumper and coal load-out system.



Westmoreland County

· Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. — $231,000 to rehabilitate track and repair bridges on the Radebaugh Subdivision.



Wyoming County

· The Proctor & Gamble Paper Products Co. — $236,000 to improve and upgrade the Proctor & Gamble Mehoopany yard.



EDITOR’S NOTE: Below is a list of General Fund Rail Freight Assistance grant recipients, the amount of funding and a brief description of the projects.



Adams County

· Gettysburg & Northern Railroad Co. — $329,000 for track rehabilitation that will cut train run times in half.



Allegheny County

· Almatis — $201,600 to repair a vital four-span bridge over Little Sewickley Creek.



Armstrong, Tioga and Warren counties

· D&I Silica — $700,000 to build two new transloading facilities and upgrade one existing facility to transload silica sand from rail cars to trucks for local gas well production.



Beaver County

· Colona Transfer LP — $600,000 for track rehabilitation and construction supporting increased unit train coal shipments being transloaded on to river barges along the CSX Pittsburgh Subdivision.

· NOVA Chemicals, Inc. — $185,500 for structural repairs to the CSX railroad bridge that spans the plant’s main entrance, as well as rehabilitation of yard track in the plant facility.

· Recycling Reclamation Services, LLC — $339,500 to rehabilitate existing track and construct new track, establishing rail service for this new tire recycling facility.



Berks County

· McConway Torley, LLC — $346,500 to rehabilitate track within the existing facility to keep the railroad car repair and metal recycling plant open.



Bucks County

· Samuel Grossi and Sons — $250,000 for a new railroad spur from the existing indoor fabricating facility to another building.



Butler County

· Sonneborn, Inc. — $609,700 for track rehabilitation and improved drainage, improving the reliability and maintainability of the plant’s rail sidings.



Clearfield County

· Bionol Clearfield, LLC — $658,000 to rehabilitate RJ Corman track and for new construction on the CVS/Clearfield Lead Track to the company’s facility.



Columbia, Lycoming and Northumberland counties

· SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority — $207,900 to make repairs to three bridges that currently handle all traffic of both the Lycoming Valley and North Shore Railroads.



Delaware County

· Conrail — $224,000 for track rehabilitation to support overseas shipments of GE locomotives and other commodities through the Penn Terminal.



Huntingdon County

· New Enterprise Stone & Lime Co., Inc. — $700,000 to re-establish rail service to the Union Furnace Quarry from the Norfolk Southern Pittsburgh Main Line.



Lackawanna County

· Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority — $318,500 to install new crossties and bridge timbers to accommodate an increase in rail traffic and heavier car loadings.



Lancaster County

· Good Food, Inc. d/b/a/ L&S Sweeteners — $250,000 for track rehabilitation at its processing facility.





Lawrence County

· JET Industries, LLC — $210,000 to re-establish rail service to a manufacturing facility.

· Kasgro Rail Corp. — $105,450 to rehabilitate yard track within the manufacturing facility.

· Vortex Recycling — $65,800 to extend the company’s spur to connect back to the New Castle Industrial Railroad main line to improve service efficiency.



Luzerne County

· Community Area New Development Organization — $402,500 to reconstruct track between the main connection with Norfolk Southern Railroad and the Bonner Crossing on the lead track into Humboldt Industrial Park.

· The Lion Brewery, Inc. — $52,850 to rehabilitate track servicing the plant facility to accommodate expanded rail shipments.



Lycoming County

· The City of Williamsport — $250,000 to construct a new siding to service the expansion of Moran Industries, Inc. distribution center adjacent to the Lycoming Valley Railroad’s Newberry Yard.



Montgomery County

· Lansdale Warehouse Co., Inc. — $17,850 to rehabilitate track servicing the Lansdale and Hatfield locations.



Philadelphia County

· Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp. — $53,550 to reconnect vandalized track and improve additional track to facilitate increased rail volumes.



Schuylkill County

· Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co. — $448,000 to re-establish rail service to its coal load-out facility.

· Reading Anthracite Co. — $233,800 to replace and repair deteriorated railroad track components and rail car storage facilities, re-establishing rail service to a re-opened coal mine and processing facility.



Tioga County

· Growth Resources of Wellsboro Foundation, Inc. — $140,000 to rehabilitate track, helping to maintain rail service to a number of existing customers.



Warren County

· Elkhorn Propane, Inc. — $215,000 for the construction of new siding off the Allegheny & Eastern main line for transloading natural gas liquids produced by Elkhorn.



Westmoreland County

· Gordon 1 Limited Partnership — $385,000 to reconstruct and extend a rail siding owned by the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad to re-establish rail service to an existing warehouse and expand access for further industrial development.