Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell recently 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:
- 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.
- Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad Co., Monroeville -- $553,787 for main line rehabilitation in Crawford, Erie and Mercer counties.
- Duferco Farrell Corporation, Farrell -- $315,632 to rehabilitate track in its Mercer County plant.
- Ellwood National Forge, LLC, Irvine -- $420,000 to rehabilitate and replace rail infrastructure at the Warren County facility.
- 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.
- 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.
- RJ Corman Railroad, Nicholasville, KY -- $1 million for track rehabilitation in Cambria, Centre, Clearfield and Indiana counties.
