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7/29/2024
The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) last week approved three grants to help pay for rail infrastructure projects.
Indiana & Ohio Railway (IORY) will receive a $1 million grant to help fund a project that will address vertical clearance concerns through Springfield, Ohio.
The $6.8 million project will address height restrictions preventing double-stack intermodal trains from traveling through Springfield by lowering an IORY mainline and a Norfolk Southern Railway bridge, according to an ORDC news release. The work consists of undercutting the subgrade at three locations, installing 80 feet of continuous-welded rail track panels, relocating two turnouts and constructing retaining walls for slope stabilization.
The ORDC also approved a $110,250 grant to Herr Foods Inc. to support its new facility in Jackson, Ohio. The project involves improving onsite rail for use by renewing ties, replacing an existing spur and installing a new private onsite concrete tub crossing.
In addition, the ORDC approved a $50,000 grant to POET Bioprocessing to support onsite rail expansion at its Fostoria, Ohio, plant.
The project will implement direct rail-car loading capabilities at the facility for distillers’ corn oil, which will enable the plant to directly access renewable diesel markets in the southern United States, ORDC officials said. Currently, POET trucks its distillers' corn oil more than 40 miles to a transload facility to access rail, resulting in more than 400 trucks moving between the plant and transload facility annually.
Once the project is completed, the transload facility will be eliminated.