North Carolina and Virginia Railroad upgrades infrastructure to handle heavier cars

The North Carolina and Virginia Railroad Co. LLC (NCVA) has upgraded its 56-mile line to handle 286,000-pound rail cars.

The infrastructure improvements will enable customers to ship and receive 286,000-pound rail cars, which matches the capacity of national railroads and increases the short line's competitiveness, NCVA officials said in a press release.
 
NVCA's previous capacity was 271,000-pound rail-car loadings.

To complete the $11.6 million infrastructure project, crews installed 21 miles of continuous-welded rail; replaced 25,700 crossties, 12 turnouts and eight grade crossings; resurfaced 51 track miles, including the addition of 22,500 tons of stone ballast; and performed extensive upgrades to its Meherrin River bridge.

Completed on schedule and within budget, the project was funded by a $5.8 million federal grant under the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program (TIGER), with matching funds provided by NCVA and the North Carolina Department of Transportation.