Finger Lakes Railway receives $508,240 state grant to construct a new Trans-load Rail Yard
A regional railway company will soon be expanding its facilities in Auburn in an effort to keep pace with the county’s blossoming rail commerce. The state announced a $508,240 grant to Finger Lakes Railway as part of a $107 million package of grants awarded in central New York through the new regional economic development council system. The funding is aimed at constructing a new trans-load rail yard on the Geneva-based rail company’s property off Perrine Street in the city to give local businesses better access to commercial transportation.
“Essentially, this is designed to provide the additional track we need to support our operations in Auburn,” Finger Lakes Railway President Mike Smith said. “We’re growing in terms of carload, and we’re running out of track, so this expansion will help us process and store cars going in and out.” When Finger Lakes purchased the 118 miles of track known as the Geneva Cluster from national transportation company Conrail in 1995 the system was running 5,500 cars each year. In the 15 years since, the carload has increased to 18,000 per year, squeezing the company’s available room and resources.
Smith said a large portion of the local rail traffic originates at Auburn businesses. “Auburn is blessed with a strong industrial base, which is a combination of factors,” the president said. “You’ve got Nucor Steel, Owens-Brockway, all these world-class manufacturers that use modern technologies. They need to be competitive in the market, and our goal is to have the necessary track structure to satisfy their needs.”
With the grant, Finger Lakes will add a half-mile of siding track to store cars and make room for trains to pass each other. The upgraded facility will allow cargo containers from commercial trucks to be loaded directly onto train cars for rail transportation.
A device Smith called a weight in motion scale will also be added so companies serviced by Finger Lakes can check the reported weights of their cargo on the fly. “There’s a pretty big demand for this,” Smith said. “Right now, companies just have to accept the weights reported at the origin or destination, with the new scale we can provide them with an accurate weight independent of their suppliers.”
For example, Smith said Nucor can use the scale to confirm the weights of scrap metal they receive and agri-business CaroVail can weigh outgoing shipments of grain. Depending on when the state disperses the grant money, Smith said construction of the new facility is planned for the summer.
Smith commended New York’s attempt at merit-based economic development, saying the grant money is dispersed better across the state. “I think it’s definitely a good thing,” he said. “It’s a good process to make sure investments are spread out to the communities that need them.”
-Citizen Staff Writer Nathan Baker
