OmniTRAX sees a hit in new Georgia & Florida line

Written by Railway Age Staff
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Short line operator OmniTRAX is partnering with forest products giant Georgia-Pacific on a transportation solution for the latter’s new plant in Albany, Ga.

As part of the project, Georgia-Pacific will connect track from its facility, which will produce lumber and wood chips, to the mainline of OmniTRAX affiliate Georgia & Florida Railway (GFRR) in the adjacent Albany-Dougherty Industrial Park.

Construction of the new rail line and related crossing and communications upgrades is expected to begin by December and will be completed in 2019. Construction on the $150 million, 320,000 square-foot, GP facility is also scheduled to begin this year with an anticipated startup in late 2019.

“Georgia-Pacific is a great partner for OmniTRAX and the GFRR, and the new plant will allow us to show case our customer service expertise even more. We also appreciate the support of the local, state and federal governments to make this project happen in Southwest Georgia and are pleased to be a part economic growth in the region,” said Kevin Shuba, Chief Executive of OmniTRAX, based in Denver.

Once in production, the new Georgia-Pacific facility expects to produce approximately 300 million board-feet of lumber a year, or 1,250 railcars of building materials and wood chips transported on the GFRR in that time.

The GFRR operates a network of 222 miles of track between Albany and northwestern Florida, interchanging with CSX in Foley, Fla. and  Thomasville, Ga., and with Norfolk Southern in Adel and Albany, Ga. The short line’s customers include Miller Brewing, Flint Hills Resources and Procter & Gamble, and the carrier transports liquid and dry bulk, pipe, plastics, construction products and more.

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