North Carolina Railroad completes track to serve industrial park

North Carolina Railroad Co. (NCRR), Cambro Manufacturing and other business and community leaders last week marked the completion of a lead track at the North Carolina Industrial Center in Mebane, N.C.

The event was held to celebrate the completion of the industrial park's first rail phase, as well as the first rail shipment received by Cambro, a manufacturer of food service equipment. In 2014, Cambro announced plans to build a 220,000-square-foot plant in the industrial park. The project required a rail spur to deliver raw materials to the facility.

The NCRR, a 317-mile service that offers Class I service via Norfolk Southern Railway, constructed a lead track, which will serve multiple businesses within the industrial park. The North Carolina Department of Transportation contributed to spur track construction costs, according to an NCRR press release.

"When Cambro expressed interest in the NCIC and its potential for rail service, we knew that building a lead track would not only serve Cambro, but would also increase opportunities to attract future rail-served industry and create jobs for our state," said NCRR President Scott Saylor.

The lead track into the industrial park had been a "concept only on paper" since the early 1990s, said Alamance Chamber of Commerce President Mac Williams.

"We started talking with NCRR about helping make those 'lines on paper' a reality and the timing of the Cambro project presented the opportunity," said Williams. "This lead track project involves a number of partners and represents the kind of collaborative effort that results in successful economic development."