Pennsylvania making $12.9-million rail Investment in 10 counties

Written by jrood

Eleven rail projects will restore or expand rail service and enhance safety in 10 counties with a $12.9-million state investment from PennDOT's Rail Freight Capital Budget/Transportation Assistance Program, Governor Edward G. Rendell said.

"Investing in
freight rail infrastructure makes businesses more competitive and pays huge
economic dividends for communities," Governor Rendell said. "These
investments will help businesses safely and efficiently handle more freight
which would otherwise travel by truck on our already congested highways and
bridges."

The program includes:

Allegheny County:

  Allegheny Valley Railroad Company —
$1.4 million to reconstruct and       replace track, replace the main
line turnout and install crossties.

• Pittsburgh and Ohio
Central Railroad — $1.3 million to bring out-of-service tracks in the Scully
Yard back into service, increasing yard capacity, and rehabilitate the west
yard and bring 1,200 feet of track on Neville Island back into service.

Allegheny, Washington
counties: Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Company — $526,653 to replace the
entire track structure in the Greentree and Hickory tunnels; remove and replace
new ballast; install tunnel drains; and improve surface and line track.

Armstrong County: Kiski
Junction Railroad Inc. — $4.3 million to extend a spur nine miles along the
Allegheny River for a total of 10 miles, providing rail service to an expanding
coal mine.

Clearfield County: River
Hill Coal Company Inc. — $525,000 to install a new scale, purchase loading
equipment and rehabilitate 2,000 feet of track.

Mifflin County: SEDA-COG
Joint Rail Authority — $713,580 to reconstruct 1,114 feet of street running
track in the Borough of Lewistown.

Montour County: United
States Gypsum — $1.6 million to build 10 industrial tracks at the company’s
new Washingtonville site for unloading raw materials and shipping out finished
Sheetrock Brand products. The work includes 26,000 feet of track, including 11
switches.

Northumberland County:
D&H Railway Company — $793,100 to construct bulk-commodity receiving,
handling and transfer infrastructure at Boyd Station.

Schuylkill County: Locust
Valley Coal Company — $202,300 to rehabilitate track, including replacing
cross ties, switch timbers, joint bars and to repair misaligned rails and three
bridges.

Warren County: Allegheny
& Eastern Railroad — $900,000 to construct a new siding, replace culverts,
install new turnouts, switch ties, cross ties and for ditch and grading work.

Westmoreland County:
Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corporation — $595,000 to replace an
aging, low-capacity wooden pile trestle bridge with a steel pile trestle
bridge.

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