MassDOT awards $2.2m in freight rail infrastructure grants

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation awarded funds to seven projects expected to take 37,000 truck trips off state roads annually under the 2016 Industrial Rail Access Program, the department said in a statement.    The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) has awarded $2.2 million in grant funding to seven freight rail infrastructure improvement projects under the state’s 2016 Industrial Rail Access Program (IRAP), the department said in a statement.
   The IRAP funded projects are expected to take 37,000 truck trips off state roads annually, result in 16,500 more carloads of freight carried by railroads, and support the creation of 77 new jobs and the retention of 240 existing jobs, according to MassDOT.
   Created as part of the 2012 Transportation Bond Bill, IRAP is a competitive state-funded public/private partnership program that provides financing to railroads, rail shippers and municipalities prepared to invest in rail infrastructure access improvement projects for public benefit.
   Recipients of the 2016 grant funds are as follows:
     • Providence and Worcester Railroad will receive $500,000 to increase access to replace the weight restricted Southbridge Street Bridge in Worcester, which will improve efficiencies and reduce costs for shippers requiring heavy load shipments into P&Ws Worcester and Gardner facilities;
     • Parallel Products of New England will receive $500,000 to expand and relocate the company’s current recycling center operation to a new rail loading facility in New Bedford, which will allow the firm to ship recycled material by rail and facilitate the hiring of 50 additional employees;
     • Excel Recycling, LLC will receive $479,700 to extend a rail spur and increase the variety of products the railroad can carry, allowing the company to ship scrap directly to steel mills by rail and hire two new employees;
     • Pan Am Southern, LLC will receive $464,172 to improve its intermodal facility pad, which will allow the railroad to handle 29,500 additional intermodal containers per year that would normally move by truck;
     • Pioneer Valley Railroad DCP Mainstream Terminal will receive $150,000 to install propane terminal siding, increasing capacity at DCP to support growing volumes;
     • Essroc Cement Corp. will receive $77,364 to build a new railcar unloading system in Palmer to replace its current facility, which has limited capacity and requires the company to supplement their supply chain with truck shipments;
     • And Massachusetts Central Railroad will receive $27,000 to increase boxcar capacity in South Barre, which will enable the railway to provide additional storage capacity and provide on-call paper deliveries for Kanzaki, the largest employer in Ware, Mass.
   “Improving access to the Commonwealth’s freight rail network is an important step in stimulating economic growth,” Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack said of the grant awards. “We look forward to collaborating with the recipients to advance their important projects and ensure that Massachusetts businesses have the tools and resources to grow and thrive.”