Freight Rail Planned for Kingsbury Industrial Park
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAfter more than a decade, an industrial park in LaPorte County will soon receive major rail service. Our partners at The Times of Northwest Indiana report the LaPorte County Commissioners have approved a contract to connect the Kingsbury Industrial Park to the nearby CSX railroad.
Matt Reardon with the LaPorte County Office of Economic and Community Development tells the publication Illinois-based JBC Rail Services will install 4,500 linear feet of track to connect existing rail inside the park to the CSX trunk line.
“It’s been a long, long haul. We’re glad to see it at this stage,” said LaPorte County Commission President Sheila Matias.
Ultimately, the plan is to have two Class 1 railroads serving both ends of the 8,000-acre park.
The Times reports the project is being partially supported by a $1 million grant from the Indiana Economic Development Corp. Additionally, LaPorte County is spending $6 million toward the cost of developing the rail spur, using funds generated by a TIF district.
JBC Rail will also operate a rail spur installed in 2013 for diverting CSX trains to and from the main trunk line once the connection is made, according to the publication.
The new rail tying into the trunk line could be laid before the end of the year.