HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has approved $55 million in funding for 30 rail freight improvement projects, the agency announced on Wednesday (Dec. 18). The funds, for a mix of railroads and rail customers, are from the state’s Rail Transportation Assistance Program and Rail Freight Assistance Program; PennDOT said they would create or sustain 344 jobs statewide.
“Expanding and improving Pennsylvania’s rail freight network will support family-sustaining jobs and connect Pennsylvania communities to the global economy while bolstering local economic development,” PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll said in a press release. “These investments will create opportunities for generations of Pennsylvanians to come and will provide key mobility across the Commonwealth.”
Awards, and the counties where the projects will take place, include:
— CSX Transportation: $13.1 million to rehabilitate and improve the condition of the 25th Street Viaduct (Philadelphia County).
— Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway: $5.8 million to rehabilitate six bridges (Allegheny, Washington, Fayette, and Westmoreland counties).
— NorthPoint Development, LLC: $3.8 million to expand the Kinder Morgan terminal rail yard by adding 13,350 feet of new track and improve current infrastructure (Bucks County).
— R.J. Corman Railroad Pennsylvania Lines: $2.9 million to replace 43,930 linear feet of rail on the Cresson and Cherry Tree divisions (Cambria and Clearfield counties).
— Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad: $2.9 million to rehabilitate track on the Laurel Subdivision, including tie replacement, track surfacing, brush cutting, grade crossing rehabilitation, and installation of an equipment defect detector (Clearfield and Elk counties)
— Union Railroad: $2.6 million to replace 1,386 ties and upgrade rail on the High Grade Bridge (Allegheny County).
— Clark’s Feed Mills, Inc.: $2.5 million to expand rail car storage and construct supporting unloading equipment (Northumberland County).
— Pittsburgh & Ohio Central Railroad: $2 million to construct approximately 4,800 feet of new track in the Scully Yard and rehabilitate 10,560 linear feet of track on the Arden Subdivision (Allegheny and Washington counties).
— SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority: $2 million to rehabilitate seven bridges and one culvert on the Juniata Valley Railroad and Nittany Bald Eagle Railroad (Centre and Mifflin counties).
— Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad: $1.86 million to rehabilitate 2.5 miles of rail replacing jointed rail on the Radebaugh Subdivision with welded rail (Westmoreland County).
— Allegheny Valley Railroad: $1.8 million to replace 2.33 miles of jointed rail realign track on the Allegheny Subdivision between Penn Hills Township and Pittsburgh (Allegheny County).
— North Shore Railroad: $1.8 million to rehabilitate and replace rail on North Shore’s mainline (Northumberland County).
— York Railway: $1.16 million to rehabilitate track in the Poorhouse Yard with rail and tie replacement and track surfacing (York County).
— Webco Industries, Inc.: $1.14 million to construct a brand new rail spur and install new rail car unloading/loading equipment (Venango County).
— Riverside Industrial Complex: $1.1 million to install 4,735 feet of newly constructed track and rehabilitate 240 feet of track at the Riverside Industrial Complex in Bristol, Pa. (Bucks County).
— Shale Rail, LLC: $749,000 to replace ties, rail, ballast, and surface 2,000 feet of track at Shale Rail’s Wysox facility (Lycoming County).
— Mericle River Road, LLC: $742,000 to construct a new mainline turnout and 2,145 feet of new track to connect to the Luzerne & Susquehanna Railway (Luzerne County).
— Redevelopment Authority of Luzerne County: $693,000 to rehabilitate two at-grade crossings and replace ties on two bridges (Luzerne County).
— Lehigh Anthracite, LP: $676,000 to construct 1,200 linear feet of new track and construct unloading equipment (Schuylkill County).
— Brownsville Marine Products, LLC: $656,000 to reconstruct a rail-crane frog to safe working order (Fayette County).
— Synthomer Jefferson Hills: $623,000 to rehabilitate and construct new loading/unloading equipment at four existing rail stations (Allegheny County).
— United States Steel Corp.-Clairton Works: $568,000 to replace four turnouts and replace rail on three siding tracks (Allegheny County).
— New Castle Industrial Railroad: $561,000 to replace bridge timbers and rail on the main track bridge over the Shenango River (Lawrence County).
— Dyer Quarry: $498,000 to rehabilitate four yard tracks and replace up to 1,500 rail ties (Berks County).
— Bucks County Railroad Preservation & Restoration Corp.: $490,000 to furnish and install 4,000 new crossties to improve 17 miles of track. (Bucks County).
— Standard Steel, LLC: $490,000 to replace six turnouts, rehabilitate and construct 300 feet of track at the SPC facility (Mifflin County).
— Pennsylvania Northeastern Railroad: $489,000 to furnish and install 4,000 new crossties across 3 miles of the Stony Creek Branch and 6 miles of the Bethlehem Branch (Montgomery County).
— East Penn Railroad: $455,000 to rehabilitate eight bridges on the Octoraro, Perkiomen, Lancaster Northern, and York branch lines (Chester, Montgomery, Berks, and York counties).
— Philadelphia Regional Port Authority: $454,000 to reconstruct an existing 1,300 feet of track at the Tioga Marine Terminal (Philadelphia County).
— Joe Krentzman & Son, Inc.: $354,000 to extend and rehabilitate a current rail siding and install a railroad car scale (Blair County).
With Class 1’s redirecting their capital to stock buybacks and spinning off more and more lines, I find that the amount of tax dollars being reallocated to maintaining capital improvements on certain rail lines increasing as a result.
This is not a complaint nor compliment, just an observation.
Somehow this makes me feel like a NFL team that requires yet more tax dollars for stadiums, to help the owner pay players yet more millions.