The Ohio Rail Development Commission approved grant funding to support four projects across the Buckeye State at its July 23 meeting.
In total, the approximately $1.4 million in grant assistance approved by the Rail Commission will result in greater than $350 million in rail infrastructure investment around the state. The Commission also approved the extension of an operating lease of 25 years for the Columbus & Ohio River Railroad on the state-owned Panhandle rail line.
A $160,000 grant to Tower Automotive Operations USA was approved by the Rail Commission to expand the company’s on-site rail infrastructure at its Bellevue facility. Tower Automotive plans to add an additional 215,000 s.f. to its current facility in order to meet the demand of future business.
Tower Automotive will invest more than $325 million in this project.
Akron Barberton Cluster Railway was approved for a grant in the amount of $700,000 to assist with the replacement of the bridge superstructure over the railroad’s Ravenna Line in Kent due to excessive deterioration. This bridge is a critical piece of infrastructure along ABC’s Ravenna Line, currently servicing two customers across the bridge. The total project investment is estimated at more than $1.4 million.
A grant in the amount of $500,000 was approved for Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway in support of a bridge reconstruction project in the City of Akron. Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway will invest more than $2.3 million in this project. Replacing this bridge, located at Milepost 161.09 and crossing Silver Street in Akron, is critical because the bridge is at the end of its useful life due to deterioration. Originally constructed in 1900, this bridge replacement will help to increase safety of operations and improve connections between rail and other modes of transportation.
G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation was approved for a $100,000 grant from the Rail Commission in support of the construction of a new rail spur and storage track to serve the company’s facility located in Columbus Grove. This project establishes G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation as Ohio’s first transload and warehousing facility, enabling significant transloading capacity for an underserved region.
G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation plans to invest approximately $25-$30 million in this project.
In other business, the Commission approved an extension to the Columbus & Ohio River Railroad’s lease of the state-owned line between Columbus and the Ohio River. In exchange for extending the lease, the railroad has agreed to invest in and expand the line’s capacity.
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