July 29, 2016
R. J. Corman Railroad Company, LLC Awarded $9.7 Million Tiger Grant for Carolina Lines Rehabilitation
NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. – R. J. Corman Railroad Company, in partnership with Horry County, SC, was recently awarded a $9.7 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The funds will be used for a rehabilitation project on R. J. Corman’s Carolina Lines. The grant is titled Moving the Carolinas Forward: A Rural Freight Rail Project and its focus is to improve the efficiency and speed of freight transportation in rural North and South Carolina. Total construction costs are estimated at over $17.5 million: the TIGER funding, South Carolina’s commitment of $4.3 million and R. J. Corman’s contribution of $3.5 million will cover the cost of the entire project.
“Receiving this grant is a monumental accomplishment for the company and for the people of North and South Carolina,” R. J. Corman Railroad Group, LLC President and CEO, Craig King, said. “We all worked diligently to acquire this funding and these lines will see major improvements as a result. The company’s goal is to provide the best service in the industry to our customers. We are certain the completion of this project will allow us to continue to uphold that tradition and ultimately benefit the community.”
When R. J. Corman purchased the Carolina Lines in August of 2015, the track was in very poor condition and had not operated for five years. The company’s goal was to repair and reopen the railroad as quickly as possible. In January of this year, R. J. Corman and Horry County began preparing an application for this eighth round of TIGER grant funding. Details such as a comprehensive benefits cost analysis, a narrative explaining the history of the railroad and information about the project’s impact were all included. The TIGER grant application process is extremely competitive with a pool of $500 million available. This year over $9.3 billion dollars were requested from 585 separate applications.
Making the necessary repairs to the Carolina Lines will increase both their reliability and operating capacity. Improving the functionality of this railroad will allow R. J. Corman to better serve its current customers and attract new businesses to the area, which will ultimately bolster the region’s economy and create jobs. Congressman Tom Rice, of South Carolina’s Seventh District, said that upgrading the lines would, “incentivize investment and therefore help diversify the economy with new industry.”
R. J. Corman Railroad Company, LLC operates 11 short line railroads and is a subsidiary of R. J. Corman Railroad Group, LLC. Altogether the company employs more than 1,650 people in 25 states. Other R. J. Corman companies provide a myriad of services to the railroad industry such as: industrial railcar switching, emergency response, track material distribution and logistics, track construction, signal design and construction, railroad worker training and building eco-friendly locomotives.
For more information about the company, visit www.rjcorman.com or call 859-881-2400 for general inquiries or 859-304-1332 for railroad operations. Businesses and community leaders may call 859-881-2466 for information about how the railroad can help them.
