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Last week, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear announced the state will provide more than $3.1 million to five short lines and a railway museum to replace or rehabilitate rail infrastructure, including track, rail beds and grade crossings.

Funding will come from the Short Line Railroad Assistance Fund, which is maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Most grants will cover half of project costs, with each railroad providing the remainder.

The state will provide:
• two grants totaling more than $1.1 million to R.J. Corman Railroad Group/Central Kentucky Line to build a siding in Midway and extend a line at Lexington Center;
• four grants totaling about $1.1 million to the Paducah & Louisville Railway Co. to replace a bridge in Muldraugh and rehabilitate crossings in Elizabethtown, Leitchfield and Louisville;
• one grant for $359,901 to the TransKentucky Transportation Railroad to replace ties and rehabilitate rail beds in Bourbon, Fleming, Mason and Nicholas counties;
• one grant for $196,740 to TennKen Railroad to replace rail in Fulton County;
• one grant for $183,635 to the Louisville & Indiana Railroad to repair an Ohio River bridge pier in Jefferson County; and
• one grant for $190,350 to the Kentucky Railway Museum to repair and rehabilitate track and a crossing in Nelson and LaRue counties (the museum stores rolling stock and is therefore a part of the short-line system, according to the state).

“Freight-rail companies, including the eight short lines that operate in Kentucky, contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to our economy each year in the form of wages and benefits,” said Beshear in a prepared statement.