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The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation recently awarded more than $8 million under the 2006 Rail Freight Assistance Program to help fund 31 freight-rail improvement projects, including eight involving short lines. The state leads the nation in operating railroads at 62 and ranks fifth in track miles at 5,100.

The grants include:
• $450,000 to R.J. Corman Railroad Co.’s Pennsylvania Lines to repair a tunnel;
• $450,000 to the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern Railroad Co. to rehabilitate and upgrade track;
• $420,000 to the Allegheny Valley Railroad Co. to rehabilitate a portion of its P&W Subdivision;
• $406,848 to the Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad Co. for a project designed to improve hazardous-material handling safety;
• $249,508 to the York Railway Co. to rehabilitate track;
• $168,000 to East Penn Railways Inc. to replace rail and ties;
• $161,000 to Penn Eastern Rail Lines Inc. to maintain branch lines; and
• $146,300 to Oil Creek & Titusville Lines Inc. to upgrade track to accommodate heavier rail cars and operate at higher train speeds.