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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: September 12, 2002
ORDC
Provides Grant to N&T Railway for Republic Engineered Products
Track COLUMBUS - The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) today approved a grant of $290,933 to the N&T Railway Company to repair track at the Republic Engineered Products steel plants in Canton and Lorain that the N&T serves. James E. Seney, Executive
Director of the ORDC, said the project will increase safety at the
two facilities and will help preserve 1,500 jobs. Republic,
which is based in Fairlawn, is the nation's largest producer of high
quality steel bars that are used by the auto industry and heavy
equipment manufacturers to make bearings, crankshafts, and spark
plug shells. Its sales last year exceeded $1 billion. Republic will
contribute $197,100 toward the cost of the project. Republic
Engineered Products is the successor to Republic Technologies
International, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.
Republic Engineered Products acquired their facilities. The new
company will employ 2,400 people. Republic Technologies employed
4,000. The
Canton plant, which employs 400, formerly belonged to LTV Steel
Corporation. It produces 40-foot-long, four-inch and six-inch steel
bars, or billets, that are transported to Lackawanna, New York, for
rolling. The
Lorain facility belonged to U.S. Steel Corporation and Kobe Steel.
It employs 1,100 and also produces billets. The two plants combined
produce 125,000 tons of steel a month. Seney
said Republic Engineered Products committed to retaining 300 jobs at
the Canton plant and 1,000 in Lorain and to generate 20,000 carloads
annually from Canton and 10,000 from Lorain. Seney the repairs are
necessary because extensive derailments at the plants disrupted
production and were a safety hazard. Canton, which has 26 miles of
track, had 78 derailments last year. Lorain, with 42 miles of track,
had 152. Seney said lack of maintenance caused by financial problems
contributed to the problem. Rail
service is critical to both plants. Canton receives scrap metal by
rail and uses rail to ship the billets. Lorain receives scrap, coke,
and iron ore pellets by rail and uses rail to ship the finished
product. Between 1999 and 2001, the two plants generated 96,587
carloads. "The steel industry
is important to Ohio's economy and the ORDC is happy to do its part
in helping keep the industry efficient and Ohioans employed."
said James E. Betts, the Chairman of the ORDC. Contact: James E. Seney |