For G&W, $1.5B in 2021 Economic Development
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Construction of a customer’s new steel facility under way along G&W’s Indiana & Ohio Railway (IORY). (Photo: Business Wire)
Genesee & Wyoming, Inc. (G&W) customers invested $1.5 billion in industrial development along its 103 U.S. railroads in 2021.
The investment is spread across 69 projects, which will generate more than 1,000 new jobs, according to G&W. “Despite a stressed global supply chain, there was investment in all major commodity groups, led by chemicals and plastics, minerals and stone, and agricultural products,” the company reported on March 23.
Among the projects/new-business wins:
• Customer facility in Delta, Ohio, that will receive inbound coils to make pipe. This marks the fourth steel customer to expand business along the Indiana & Ohio Railway since 2015, G&W said.
• Biodegradable plastics facility in Bainbridge, Ga., to be served by Georgia Southwestern Railroad.
• Plant in Williams, Calif., that will produce renewable carbon pellets, to be served by California Northern Railroad.
• New wind-turbine transload sites in Havana, Ill., and Remington, Ind., served by Toledo, Peoria & Western Railway and Illinois & Midland Railroad.
• Transload site established in Visalia, Calif., along the San Joaquin Valley Railroad for biodiesel and renewable diesel.
• Transload site in Oral, S.D., that will allow the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad to transfer feldspar minerals.
“Based on last year’s customer investments, G&W’s freight transportation services continue to be critical to companies’ logistics strategies and the greater supply chain,” G&W Chief Commercial Officer Mike Peters said. “Going forward, we expect companies to increasingly look to rail transportation to meet Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) targets, and we are prepared to assist them in finding sites and services that help reach those goals.”
“Our railroads create flexible, customized transportation solutions that generate economic growth for the states and local markets we serve by adding long-term manufacturing jobs and direct investments in communities,” G&W Vice President of Industrial Development said.
G&W reported that it maintains a database of more than 600 potential industrial development properties across its U.S. railroads.
