(The following article by Brian Charlton was posted on the Akron Beacon Journal website on July 30.)
AKRON, Ohio — Using a crane to carefully lift an unburied section of railroad track near Common Street, about a dozen workers in orange construction hats help maneuver a large piece made of wooden blocks and steel tracks.
While there are hydraulic tools used to bolt the tracks together, one worker swings a sledgehammer, bringing back memories of the sweat and muscle that went into building the original tracks in Akron years ago.
The track is new, an extension of a siding lane that will benefit companies like National Lime & Stone Co. by increasing their freight capacity with longer trains from Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway.
Although the tracks are somewhat hidden as they weave through the background of local cities, construction is going to become a familiar scene for the train tracks owned by Wheeling, a Brewster-based company.
Business is booming for the regional railway company — revenues are up 19 percent this year already — but the tracks are old and slow.
“In my 47 years of railroads this is unprecedented,” Wheeling CEO and Chairman Larry Parsons said from the Brittain Yard on East Market Street. “This is the best period of economic prosperity I’ve ever experienced.”
Fueled by a $25 million loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway plans to rehabilitate 315 miles of track and replace more than 168,000 rail ties.
The company also plans to add 100 workers to its force of 400. Train crews, construction workers, car and locomotive maintenance workers and marketing professionals are some of the jobs the company — with revenue of $53 million in 2003 — will add.
Nationally, the railroad industry will be looking for 80,000 workers in the next six years, according to the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board. An aging work force and growth of railroad companies will add jobs with annual salaries that currently range from $48,853 for car and locomotive maintainers to $67,128 for conductors and $75,000 for locomotive engineers. Currently, about 220,000 people work in the railroad industry.
The Association of American Railroads, which represents most of the railroad companies, has seen nine of its 10 best weeks in volume of freight transported in the past three months.
Companies that use railroads for transportation of their goods are increasing shipments, said Tom White, spokesman for the association.
And with trucking companies experiencing shortages in workers and equipment, railroad companies have seen extra usage, said Tom White, spokesman for the association.
“Some of our best customers are trucking companies,” White said. “There’s a strong demand for railroads, trucking and waterways to transport freight. The economy as a whole is humming.”
At a record pace, the total volume of freight carried by railroads is up 4.8 percent in the first 28 weeks of 2004 with carload freight up 3.6 percent and intermodal freight up 9.3 percent.
Volumes are up in grain by 10 percent, coal by 3 percent, lumber by 7 percent, aggregates by 5 percent and chemicals by 5 percent, the association reports.
Wheeling carries coal from Harrison Mining, iron ore from the Great Lakes region, steel from five different mills, aggregates from four quarries, and chemicals, forest products and grain, generating about 130,000 carloads annually.
At Wheeling, the $25 million loan comes from the Transportation Department’s Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing program administered by the Federal Railroad Administration.
The loan will allow Wheeling to use more of the industry standard 286,000-pound rail cars to serve its 170 customers, said Emil Frankel, U.S. assistant secretary for transportation policy. Joint rails will be replaced by continuous welded rail, which will lower derailments and speed up shipping, Frankel said.
“This type of investment is the cornerstone of the Bush administration’s commitment to the economic future of this region,” Frankel said. “This railroad is an important transportation link and the economic lifeblood of the communities and businesses it serves.”
With improved tracks, Wheeling can increase its ability to serve long-haul shippers. Currently, about 60 percent of its business is short-haul loads, which is transporting freight that would otherwise be transported by trucks.
Wyandot Dolomite Inc., which is now owned by Thornville-based Shelly Co., is keeping a close eye on the improvements made to the track, said Herk Wolfe, a consultant and former chairman of Wyandot.
“For every 100 cars on a train, it takes 400 trucks to carry the freight,” Wolfe said. “When wheels go around the cost of freight goes up.”