NCDOT awards $12 million in short-line improvement funds

The North Carolina Department of Transportation yesterday announced the award of $12 million in grants to fund short-line improvement projects.

NCDOT awarded the grants though its Freight Rail and Rail Crossing Safety Improvement Program, which  supports projects that improve rail infrastructure health, safety and performance.

The grants are matched with railroad investments to contribute about $24 million in rail infrastructure improvements. Together, the projects will support improvements to 52 railroad bridges and nearly 123 miles of track, NCDOT officials said in a press release.

The grant recipients, award amounts and related projects are:

• Aberdeen Carolina and Western Railway, $3,563,324 for bridge improvements, siding construction and track upgrades in Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Montgomery, Moore and Stanly counties;

• Blue Ridge Southern Railroad, $1,847,754 for bridge improvements and track upgrades on the Canton and Skyland branches in Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson and Jackson counties;

• Carolina Coastal Railway, $1,154,500 for bridge improvements and track upgrades on the Belhaven, Plymouth, and Wilson branches in Beaufort, Nash, Pitt and Wilson counties;

• Great Smoky Mountains Railroad, $1,011,978 for bridge improvements and track upgrades in Cherokee, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties;

• Raleigh and Fayetteville Railroad, $805,000 for bridge improvements and track upgrades on the Fayetteville Subdivision in Cumberland, Harnett and Wake counties; 

• Atlantic and Western Railway, $647,985 for bridge improvements and track upgrades in Lee County;

• Wilmington Terminal Railroad, $574,914 for track upgrades along the mainline and in the Wilmington yard in New Hanover County;

• Aberdeen and Rockfish Railroad, $536,908 for track upgrades in Moore County;

• Charlotte Western Railroad, $511,032 for construction of two rail sidings in Gaston County;

• North Carolina and Virginia Railroad, $415,572 for bridge improvements and track upgrades along the mainline, Northampton, Bertie and Hertford branches in Hertford and Northampton counties;

• Alexander Railroad Co., $403,995 for track upgrades in Iredell County, and $96,000 for track upgrades in Alexander County; and

• Chesapeake and Albemarle Railroad, $403,863 for bridge improvements and track upgrades along the Pasquotank and Vulcan Lead branches in Perquimans County.