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Last week, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation awarded $7.8 million in capital budget funds to eight railroad-related projects.

"Keeping short-line and regional railroads in good operating condition means we're keeping the freight moving, [and] supporting employers, jobs and families," said state Transportation Secretary Allen Biehler in a prepared statement.

The state awarded:
• $1,642,000 to the SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority to install welded rail and upgrade a 10.3-mile mainline;
• $1,601,250 to RFI Energy Inc. to rehabilitate 48 miles of the Pittsburgh & Shawmut Railroad's line between Sligo and Driftwood by repairing coal loading tracks and switches, signals, two crossings and tunnels, and installing ties;
• $1,250,900 to River Hill Coal Co. Inc. to improve track by installing welded rail, rebuilding a switch, constructing three crossings, and building a coal loading facility on a three-mile siding between LaJose and Thompsontown that connects to RJ Corman Railroad;
• $1 million to Delaware and Hudson Railway Co. Inc. to rehabilitate portions of 127 miles of mainlines;
• $953,506 to U.S. Steel Corp. to rehabilitate and replace deteriorating mainlines, and yard and switch ties;
• $630,000 Pittsburgh & Ohio Railroad Co. to rehabilitate five miles of track on the Neville Island branch to Duff's Junction;
• $500,000 to Norfolk Southern Corp. to help fund engineering work for a connecting track from the Lurgan Branch at Lemoyne to the Port Road Secondary Branch to improve access to Enola Yard; and
• $283,780 to Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. to construct a loading/unloading siding for a new factory in Monessen.