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Rail lines keep industrial park on track
Oct 06, 2009 (Standard-Speaker - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
One of the keys to industrial development is having land that is ready to accept industry -- land developed with water and sewer lines and electrical lines.
Another amenity is rail service.
Many industries -- especially plastics -- bring in raw material via rail. There are not many rail sites available in Pennsylvania, making the sites that do exist valuable.
Knowing that fact, when CAN DO officials began to develop the Humboldt Industrial Park, they wanted to make sure rail would be available.
Today, there is a six-mile network of rail lines -- not to mention the many spurs industries have built off the main line -- that helps existing industry do business, and attract new industry to locate in Humboldt.
Rail lines in CAN DO's original development, the Valmont Industrial Park, are maintained and managed by the Norfolk Southern Railroad.
CAN DO President Kevin O'Donnell said CAN DO approached Norfolk Southern's predecessor, Conrail, to do the same in Humboldt.
Conrail's reluctance didn't stop CAN DO, who decided to maintain its own track.
"Knowing how important rail is to attract manufacturing, when Joe Yenchko (former CAN DO executive) and the volunteers decided to start designing Humboldt Industrial Park, they made provisions for rail service," O'Donnell said.
Problem was, there was no track to maintain.
"Actually, the old Sheppton-Oneida spur of the Lehigh Valley Railroad went through the park," O'Donnell remembered from his first days at CAN DO in 1972.
"There was a cinder bed that ran through the middle of the park when we bought it," O'Donnell remembered. "A few years prior to CAN DO buying the land, all of the rails and ties were stolen and sold for scrap. The state police did catch somebody, and they went to jail for it."
So CAN DO used the bed, installed new rails and ties, and built what would be the first leg of the Humboldt Industrial Park Railroad, from Interstate 81 west 8,000 feet into the park.
In 1970, CAN DO extended the line to Inland Container, now known as Temple-Inland.
The next large extension would occur almost 20 years later. In 1989, CAN DO took the line to the then-North American Directory Corp. now known as Quebecor, another 1,500 feet.
Ten years later, CAN DO extended the rail 10,000 feet to the new Humboldt West section, a 550-acre section CAN DO bought in the 1990s as a potential site for a major manufacturer When that one manufacturer didn't come forward, the parcel was subdivided and utilities were extended to it.
Soon after, the line was extended another 2,800 feet to accommodate the large OfficeMax distribution center.
The next extension came in 2001, when the rail line was extended 9,500 feet into Humboldt North.
All along, CAN DO has obtained grants and invested its own funds -- as well as asking the industries to help -- in to maintaining the track.
"In order to make sure we had reliable rail service, CAN DO charged industries so much per car to run across the track," O'Donnell said. "We've done the maintenance -- with the help of outside contractors -- but for major repairs, we've been subsidized by grants from the Rail Freight Assistance Act. In the last three years, CAN DO has invested $800,000 as the match to raise $2.6 million in grant funds."
CAN DO has performed a lot of maintenance on the six miles of track with that money.
In 2007, the track in the 700-acre Humboldt North, across Route 924 from the original Humboldt Industrial Park was expanded.
A siding was built to Site 28, a vacant site, in Humboldt Industrial Park North -- a length of 500 track feet. The contractor was W. E. Yoder Inc. O'Donnell said that task was completed to make the 9-acre parcel rail ready.
In 2008, CAN DO again hired the Yoder firm to perform maintenance on select areas of the main lead track.
Maintenance items include drainage repair, ballast, track resurfacing, switch stand repairs, gauge issues and the installation of new turnouts, which were designed by The Railroad Association Corporation (TRAC).
This year, K.W. Reese Inc., was hired to replace the obsolete 100-lb rail with new 130-lb rail from Interstate 81 to Commerce Drive in Humboldt Station, CAN DO's new commercial development near the intersection of Route 924 and I-81.
That project will start in the third quarter of 2009 and completion is anticipated for the fourth quarter of 2010.
Rail usage
If you're wondering how much the rail is needed, O'Donnell will tell you
He said there are existing industries in the Hazleton area that use rail -- and several more sites have been created by the latest work on the tracks.
"There are 20 industries that use rail and 12 of them are in the Humboldt park," O'Donnell said. "There are three sites (available) in Humboldt East and six more in Humboldt North."
In exchange for that investment, CAN DO has landed industries in Humboldt Park which employ almost 1,800 people. Together with the industries that use rail in the Valmont Industrial Park, rail has provided over 3,000 jobs in both parks.
O'Donnell has tracked the number of cars that have passed over the Humboldt tracks.
"In 2003, 2,635 cars used the track," O'Donnell said. "By 2006, the number was up to 3,966. It hit the high-water mark in 2007, 4,509. It dropped back to 3,823 last year, but I expect it will go back up as the recession improves."
Rail is a draw
When CAN DO is marketing its industrial sites, it highlights the rail-served sites, because they are so rare and in demand.
CAN DO's marketing director, Joe Lettiere, said having a rail-served site sometimes is the difference between landing and not landing a new industry.
There may be land that has rail going through it. But that land may not have roads or water, sewer or electrical lines to it.
"Developed, rail-served properties are few and far between," Lettiere said. "There are not many developed, rail-served sites in the northeastern United States, let alone northeastern Pennsylvania."
Being developed -- as CAN DO offers its property -- is the key.
"It is a competitive advantage to have rail-served sites available to companies," Lettiere said. "We have actually won projects because we had developed, rail-served sites for companies to come in and use in their business."
Steve Yokimishyn, regional directof of the Governor's Action Team -- the group of professionals who help local groups like CAN DO bring new business and industry to the state -- said developed land, or land that already has roads and utilities, is rare to also have rail service.
"For every rail-served site in northeastern Pennsylvania, I estimate there are five non-rail sites," he said. "Rail has always been attracive to any industry that does the majority of its business by shipping means."
Yokimishyn said rail is a great way for companies to save money.
"There is no doubt companies could save a lot using rail," he said. "For what we are going through economically now, anything a company can do to increase their bottom line they have to take advantage of.
"On the good side for us, is that the more rail served sites there are, there is that much less truck traffic on our roads."
jdino@standardspeaker.com
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