“The 1,200 new jobs at the GM Lordstown facility is just one example of employment opportunities that would not be possible without freight railroads.”
Lordstown is a small village of 3,700 in northwest Ohio. This quaint town, located just outside of Youngstown, is known for its rural atmosphere and abundance of buildable land. It’s also known for building cars — a lot of them, as in 14.3 million since 1966. Over the years, the GM Lordstown facility has built the Impala, Bel Air, Firebird, Cavalier and Cobalt, to name just a few. The complex covers five million square feet and contains an on-site stamping plant – utilizing 102,000 tons of steel last year alone.
The freight rail network serving this facility is equally impressive. At one point, the tracks fan out into 35 separate lanes to accommodate all the materials needed for production. That doesn’t include a separate set of tracks for loading the final product into auto racks for distribution across the United States.
GM’s facility would not have been located in Lordstown were it not for the access to rail. And it is that critical rail transportation link that makes it possible to add 1,200 new jobs. Production at the plant means a $47 million increase in payroll and $470,000 in additional tax revenue for the Village.
“With the 4th largest freight rail infrastructure in the nation, Ohio has much to gain from rail’s renaissance,” said Mayor Toni Middleton. “In addition to the thriving rail supply vendor industry in Ohio, our manufacturers rely heavily on freight rail. The 1,200 new jobs at the GM Lordstown facility is just one example of employment opportunities that would not be possible without freight railroads.”