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After nearly two years spent replacing 38 track miles, rebuilding 11 bridges, upgrading 54 crossings and installing 23,000 ties, Columbus and Greenville Railway Co. (C&G) recently completed the $2.4 million track-improvement project.


The 242-mile short line now can accommodate 286,000-pound cars and increase train speed from 10 mph to 25 mph between Greenwood and Indianola, Miss.


In return for shipper commitments to route inbound grain via its line, Canadian National Railway Co. in 2000 provided C&G funds for the project, which enables the short line to interchange CN's 75- or 100-car "Efficiency Trains."


With these trains, CN seeks to maximize equipment utilization by setting time limits for loading, moving and unloading grain.


C&G would be the first interchanging road to handle Efficiency Trains, according to a prepared statement.


The trains and track improvements helped spur grain producer Delta Western to recently add one-and-a-half million bushels of storage capacity at its catfish-feed plant near Indianola, said C&G President Roger Bell.


Next year, C&G plans to upgrade five more bridges between Indianola and Greenville to further accommodate 286k.