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Last week, the Ohio Rail Development Commission approved providing loans and grants for seven freight-rail projects that will preserve and create jobs, according to the commission.

The loans and grants include:

• a $250,000 loan to leverage more than $4 million in federal funds for a new turnout switch and twin rail spurs at the MPR transloading facility in Bellaire to create a rail-to-barge transfer facility;

• a $200,000 grant to leverage funds from R.J. Corman Railroad Group to upgrade two lines in western Ohio;

• a $200,000 grant to “attract” up to $296,000 in private funds from the Indiana & Ohio Railroad to continue upgrading a 10-mile stretch of the Midland Subdivision line between Washington Court House and Midland;

• a $163,000 loan to build a new rail spur serving D&L Energy in Youngstown;

• a $150,000 grant and loan package to reinstall a rail switch and upgrade rail spurs into the Novotec recycling facility in Columbus;

• a $130,000 grant to continue rehabilitating the city-owned Greenfield rail line; and

• a $125,000 grant to build a rail-truck transload facility in Lancaster.