CSX Transportation Inc. received the final piece of funding Thursday for its $60 million intermodal facility in McKees Rocks, a $3 million state grant to build track into the facility.
The CSX grant was among 12 worth $17.6 million approved Thursday by the State Transportation Commission for rail projects in Western Pennsylvania. Overall, the commission approved 31 projects statewide worth $36 million.
“This is the piece we have been waiting for,” said CSX spokeswoman Melanie Cost. “It’s an important part of the terminal.”
The rail company broke ground in December for the facility on a 70-acre former Pittsburgh & Lake Erie rail yard west of the McKees Rocks Bridge along Island Avenue.
When it opens in mid-2017, the terminal will allow long-haul trailers to be shipped by rail to McKees Rocks, then attached to trucks for transport to their final destination.
The rail projects received assistance from the Rail Transportation Assistance Program, funded through the state’s capital budget, and the Rail Freight Assistance Program, funded by the Act 89 transportation bill approved in 2013 that generates an extra $1.1 billion a year for transportation by eliminating the cap on the tax paid by gasoline wholesalers, plus increases in driver fees and fines.
The other Rail Transportation Assistance projects funded in Western Pennsylvania are:
• Pittsburgh and Ohio Central Railroad — $420,000 to install 2,650 feet of track and a new turnout in the Scully Yard, near Mckees Rocks.
• Union Railroad Co. — $3.4 million to repair the the East Pittsburgh Viaduct, including a 1,600-foot passing siding.
• Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. — $1.2 million for nearly 20 track miles of continuous welded rail on its Pittsburgh subdivision.
• Buffalo & Pittsburgh Railroad Inc. — $3.6 million to improve the Butler Yard and shop tracks as well as yard tracks the company leases, restoring a crossover connection and repairing eight bridge structures on its northern subdivision.
• D&I Silica — $1.3 million to extend the switching lead track and two unloading pit yard tracks, replace track and relocate a turnout to create a yard for operational flexibility in Fayette County.
• Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad Co. — $2 million to install five yard tracks and a runaround track to improve the Bowest Yard in Fayette County.
• Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. — Nearly $1.1 million to replace rail and steel components on the Radebaugh Subdivision Rail Relay.
The Rail Freight Assistance projects are:
• Leetsdale Industrial Corp. — $299,862 to construct two new spurs and raise, line and surface track.
• Middleton Properties West LLC — $633,711 to rehabilitate 4,800 feet of track and construct 2,700 feet of new track in Beaver County.
• Pennsylvania Southwestern Railroad — $535,610 to rehabilitate five tracks, a pit track and a turnout in Beaver County.
• Three Rivers Marine Rail Terminal LP — $133,945 to rehabilitate mainline track in Westmoreland County.
Ed Blazina: eblazina@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1470.
First Published: May 12, 2016, 6:26 p.m.
Updated: May 13, 2016, 3:20 a.m.
