Message Action Item
Advocacy Tools
Connecting Communities
The North American freight railroads operate a vast network of tracks that connect communities and businesses from coast to coast and touch virtually every aspect of our daily lives. Every day, freight rail helps to boost our economy, support job creation and retention, relieve roadway congestion, and clear our skies by providing fuel efficient and cost-effective transportation. GoRail provides an opportunity for rail stakeholders, community leaders, and the public to get the message to Washington that national policy decisions on rail have a real impact on jobs and the quality of life back home. You can read some of those stories here. We would also like to invite you to share your own story.
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Big things are happening at the Port of Longview, where a new $200 million grain terminal is scheduled to come on line in time for the fall 2011 harvest. Freight rail is crucial for the grain terminal, which will be able to handle more than 8 million metric tons annually. |
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The Franklin County Regional Intermodal Facility located in Greencastle, Pennsylvania promises to deliver an economic boon to the region. The project, which broke ground in October 2010, will provide more than 100 new jobs initially and 600 by 2016 — all in Franklin County. |
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Pendleton Grain Growers (PGG) was at a crossroads — ready to expand, but the cost and logistics for moving its inventory was prohibitively expensive. Its solution was freight rail. After working with the local short line to add storage capacity and rail service, PGG was able to space shipments into off-season months, significantly reducing transportation costs and opening new opportunities. |
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Lordstown is a small village of 3,700 in northwest Ohio. This quaint town is known for building cars — a lot of them, as in 14.3 million since 1966. Its GM Lordstown facility covers 5 million square feet and contains an on-site stamping plant. The facility would not have been possible without freight rail. |
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While other former military bases around the country have struggled to reshape themselves, the Griffiss Business and Technology Park, in Rome, N.Y., is one of the most successful enterprises of its kind in the United States. One key to the park’s success is its access to avenues of transportation — including a rail spur into the park from a CSX main line. |
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The Town of Riverhead used the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to restore a freight rail line to transform the old Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve Plant into a modern logistical terminal for eastern Long Island. |
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Maryland has long been a leading area of economic development for the United States. The Baltimore County region — which includes Baltimore County and Baltimore City, remains Maryland’s primary economic engine and a focal point for rail activity throughout the area. Severstal Sparrows Point, which employs thousands, has produced steel since 1889 and even boasts its own rail carrier, the Patapsco & Back River Railroad. The plant is sustained by its location at the Port of Baltimore, which includes access to the U.S. freight railroad network. |
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The PVRR is a locally owned, home-based short line freight railroad that interchanges with CSXT. This cooperative effort helps PVRR’s customers — including Yankee Candle, Jen Coat, Sonoco, Agway and Lowes — be more competitive in the marketplace and keeps much-needed jobs in the community. |
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Illinois is arguably the most important state in this nation’s rail system, with more than 50,000 current rail employees and retirees, the largest rail hub in the country in Chicago and a second major rail hub in the metro east/St. Louis region. Railroads have played a critical role in economic development and job creation throughout the state, including in Galesburg, which has been a major beneficiary of rail. |
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When the new millennium arrived, West Point was a depressed city of rising unemployment and empty, rundown factory buildings. A billion-dollar Kia car manufacturing plant is helping turn the region around, employing thousands and pumping as much as $6.5 billion into the local economy by 2012. |
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In an industrial area adjacent to city wastewater treatment fields, CSX Transportation plans to build an Integrated Logistics Center (ILC) — or inland port — on 1,250 acres in Winter Haven, Fla. Along with the proposed development of the distribution center, a total of 8,500 jobs are expected to be created over a ten-year period. It is also estimated that over a 10-year period the ILC could create more than $10 billion in economic activity and add $900 million in state and federal tax revenue — of which about $400 million would be state/local revenue. |
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The connection between freight trains and wine is driving economic development for Northern California’s wine region. The area’s production of about 30 million cases of wine per year creates jobs in bottling, packaging, distribution facilities, warehouses and boutique winemaking. A growing focus on transporting wine efficiently and environmentally has led to greater use of freight rail. |
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The ready access to freight rail and the on-dock rail facilities keep many of San Diego's strongest maritime operations and port tenants viable. Many products and economic activities at the San Diego Port rely heavily upon BNSF's rail service, particularly automobile distribution operations. |
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The City of Pittsburg, Calif. credits two freight rail lines with helping the city attract new businesses and jobs. Pittsburg is welcoming a $93 million, 400,000-square-foot facility for United Spiral Pipe that will generate 175 manufacturing jobs once completed. The city is also gaining new revenue to support city services and creating a training program with nearby Los Medanos College that will allow residents to develop the welding skills required to work at the facility. |
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The City of Oakland and the Port of Oakland, in conjunction with private business partners, plan to create a vital international trade and industry center that will create jobs, increase global competitiveness and provide a range of benefits locally, regionally and nationally. The strategic redevelopment of the former Oakland Army Base includes marine terminal improvements; a new intermodal rail terminal; trade and logistics facilities; and numerous other transportation infrastructure improvements. |
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TBM Intermodal recently created an alliance with freight railroads to help expand an inland intermodal shipping port in Calexico and deliver goods to Mexico. This means 500 direct and 500 indirect jobs for California’s Imperial Valley. It also means the region is well-positioned to take advantage of future trade opportunities with Mexico. |
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Ashland, Ohio is well known for its welcome sign that proclaims the city to be “The World Headquarters of Nice People.” In this small city of 22,000 that has been hit hard with layoffs, things just got a little nicer thanks to a surprising asset: freight rail. |