FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                              

Date:  September 29, 2009

CONTACT: Stu Nicholson

stuart.nicholson@dot.state.oh.us

614-644-0513

Stimulus-Funded Rail Line Rehab Supports 3,000 Jobs

RJ Corman Western Lines get $1.3-Million upgrade

Columbus – Better rail service means improving business, saving jobs and creating new ones.  That’s what a $1.3-million dollars American Recovery & Reinvestment Act grant will do for RJ Corman’s Western Ohio rail lines.

The Ohio Rail Development Commission has officially given the project the notice to proceed.  The majority of the project will involve much-need replacement of old railroad ties and upgrading railroad bridges with the aim of maintaining track speeds at 25-MPH, ensuring consistent and efficient service to shippers and helping make industrial parks more attractive to new business.

The rail lines serve 14 industrial parks, 25 customers and several major agricultural shippers, all of which employ a total of over 3,000 people in an area with unemployment rates ranging from roughly 9.1-percent in Mercer County to 15.2-percent in Van Wert County.  Improvements will enable more carloads of freight to move by rail and help reduce the costs of wear and tear on local highways.

 (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 services and railroad grade crossing safety. For more information about what ORDC does for Ohio, visit our website at: http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/Rail )