COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Indiana Northeastern Railroad Company celebrated the completion of the Branch County Rail Users Association Project with their partners on Thursday.
They showed off the upgrading over the last year of nearly 10 miles of railroad right of way from Coldwater to east of Quincy to a group which included members of Coldwater city government and partners in the project.
Photos by MWC’s Jim Measel
The project addressed the deteriorating conditions of the rail line and the need to increase the weight capacity of rail cars serving local companies.
The R.U.A. was awarded a grant from the Rail Division of the Michigan Department of Transportation for 50 percent of the project cost which came out to $625,000.
The Coldwater City Council and the Indiana Northeastern Railroad both approved $312,500.
The Railroad’s investment included a provision to become a full voting board member of the R.U.A..
The I.N.R. later made an additional investment of over $233,000 to cover cost over-runs which brought the total amount of money spent on the project up to over $1-point-4 million.
Railroad General Manager Troy Strane felt it was a good investment.
As for the repairs that were made,
The R.U.A. was created for the purpose of purchasing the old Conrail Railroad line that served two counties and local industries.
Besides the railroad, the R.U.A. board is comprised of representatives from Sekisui Voltek, Panel Processing, Star of the West Milling, the City of Coldwater and Branch County Economic Growth Alliance.
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