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OHIO RAIL

DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION

50 W. Broad Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215

(614) 644-0306 telephone or fax (614) 728-4520

http://www.dot.state.oh.us/ohiorail/

Contact: Stu Nicholson

(614) 644-0513

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                              

Date: May 13, 2005                                                                                      

 

Coal Mine & Short-line RR Get Help From ORDC

Financial Aid Means New Jobs

 

(Columbus) – Rail projects that will create new jobs in Southern and Southeast Ohio are getting a financial assist from the Ohio Rail Development Commission.

 

ORDC Commissioners on Thursday, approved a $200,000 grant to help finance portions of 5 railroad and rail-related projects to serve two new coal mines in Perry County near the community of Corning.  The funds will be combined with similar grants from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to:

 

•                                 Build rail spurs into the mines to enable loading of 55 car coal trains

•                                 Build a new grade crossing and 100 feet of new track where the Norfolk Southern Railroad crosses State Route 13

•                                 Build additional track to enable 110 car coal trains to be loaded

•                                 Build an automated rail car loading system

•                                 Build an automated coal sampler to allow testing of coal as it’s being loaded

 

Buckingham Coal, the owners of the mining operation, will spend $3.4-Million of their own money on the projects as well, for a total of $4-Million dollars.  The benefits include:

 

•                                 Preserving 90 existing mining jobs

•                                 Creating up to 200 new mining jobs

•                                 Opens up Southern Ohio coal reserves and up to 130-million tons of recoverable coal

•                                 Helps keep Ohio Southern Railroad line active, which gets more use out of previous state and railroad investments in rehabilitating the rail line

•                                 In the future, this could help the Norfolk Southern’s “West Virginia Secondary” remain economically viable

 

“This is precisely the type of projects that help develop new business and create jobs in a part of Ohio that is most in need of both”, says ORDC Executive Director James Seney.

                                                           

Jackson County Railroad Gets Grant

 

In other action, ORDC Commissioners granted at least $40,000 to assist in rehabilitating existing yard tracks and build two new freight car storage tracks along the US Rail Corporation tracks at the Meadow Run rail yard at Wellston in Jackson County.  An additional $5,520 dollars in grant funds could be added at a later date.  US Rail will add $47,650 of their own funds to complete the project.

 

The yard project will help continue economic development in both Jackson and Vinton counties by creating storage space for at least 150 more rail freight cars a year.  Eight new jobs will also be created, since the project will allow better rail service to shippers, including Marathon-Ashland Petroleum.  US Rail officials also indicated that another potential new shipper and employer could be attracted to the area by these significant rail improvements.

 

(The Ohio Rail Development Commission is an independent agency operating within the Ohio Department of Transportation.  ORDC is responsible for economic development through the improvement and expansion of passenger and freight rail service, railroad grade crossing safety and rail travel & tourism issues. For more information about what ORDC does for Ohio, visit our website at http://www.dot.state.oh.us/ohiorail/ )