Ohio rail commission OKs grants for short lines, manufacturers

The Ohio Rail Development Commission yesterday announced about $2 million in grant funding to the following short lines and manufacturers.

• Indiana & Ohio Railway: $614,456

Indiana & Ohio Railway (IORY) will use the funds for work on the Midland Subdivision, where the short line is installing a crossover near Oakley Yard in Cincinnati and making improvements to Midland Yard in Clinton County. At Oakley, a crossover would facilitate retrieving staged cars on the mainline without moving the entire consist, which causes disruptions and requires extra labor, ORDC officials said in a press release. At Midland, the project would remove out-of-service tracks and switches and replace them with new tracks and switches. The short line is matching the grant dollar-for-dollar for a total of $1,228,912.

• Ashland Railway: $613,898

Ashland Railway (ASRY) will use the funds for rehabilitation work consisting of replacement of five turnouts, tie replacement, ballast installation and surfacing work along the short line's tracks, ORDC officials said. ASRY is matching the grant dollar-for-dollar for a total investment of $1,227,796. The short line owns and operates 56 miles of track in Richland, Ashland, Wayne and Huron counties with traffic interchanging with Norfolk Southern Railway, Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway and CSX.

• P&G Manufacturing Co.: $400,000

P&G Manufacturing Co. will use the funds to expand its Bath Township manufacturing facility, in which the company plans to invest more than $500 million and hire 135 new employees after the project is completed. P&G is a customer of the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern Railroad and needs additional on-site rail infrastructure to serve the new facility, ORDC officials said.

• Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway: $250,000

Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. will use the funds for upgrades to its swing bridge's end lift and braking systems over the Maumee River. W&LE, which interchanges with CN and Ann Arbor Railroad, must traverse the 19th-century bridge in order to access these interchanges. Part of the bridge's mechanical system has "outlived its useful life" and will render the bridge unusable if the end lift and braking systems are not upgraded, ORDC officials said. The short line is matching the grant dollar-for-dollar for a total investment of $500,000.

• Behr Process Corp.: $100,000

Behr Process Corp. will use the funds for improvements to on-site rail infrastructure ahead of a new 50-acre planned facility in Heath. The new facility comprises an investment of $80 million and the creation of 90 new jobs over the next three years for the manufacturing and distribution of paint products. The rail infrastructure is currently not in the proper condition to service the facility, ORDC officials said. Behr is a subsidiary of Masco Corp. and is one of the largest North American manufacturers of paints, primers, stains and other surface products.