(The following story by Emily Hagedorn appeared on the Louisville Courier-Journal website on March 3, 2010.)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A railroad company that owns a short line that goes into Bullitt County has received a federal grant, which will result in local jobs.
The Nicholasville-based R.J. Corman Railroad Group received a $17.5million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant Feb. 17 to repair five unconnected short lines in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia. The company will match 20 percent of the grant, and the state is contributing $200,000, bringing the total investment to $21.9million.
One of the short lines travels 20 miles from Bardstown, into Bullitt County, through Clermont and ends at the CSX Corp. railroad line that runs north and south along Interstate 65.
Almost $2million of the funds will go to the Bardstown line, which serves six principal shippers, including Jim Beam, said Noel Rush, R.J. Corman’s vice president of strategic planning and development. The line is also home to the My Old Kentucky Dinner Train.
The construction will include replacing 16,000 crossties, repairing two bridges and resurfacing the line, which entails using 10,000 tons of ballast, he said.
“It’s just not in the shape that it can be to improve service to our shippers,” Rush said of the 22-year-old short line’s condition.
He said he expects work to begin this year and be completed next year.
The company announced that about 100 people would be hired for the entire project, but Rush said he didn’t know how many people would be needed for the Bardstown line.
“But there’s no question that we will recruit and solicit employees from Nelson County and Bullitt County,” he said.
The company is working with the Nelson County Economic Development Agency and the Kentucky Workforce Development Cabinet to find employees, he said.
“We will put some people to work,” Rush said.