Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Georgia Central Railway has upgraded its 211-mile rail line between Macon and Savannah to handle 286,000lb freight cars.
Previously, the short line freight railroad could handle railcars weighing up to 263,000lb due to the reduced capacity of a few bridges on the line.
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In the past few years, 3,200 bridge stringers and 10,000 crossties were installed to increase the capacity. The project involved an investment of $4m.
The most recent project involved upgrading the 1,500ft-long Pendleton Creek trestle bridge.
Georgia Central Railway president Andy Chunko said: “An additional $8m of investments are planned to increase track speed to 25mph across the line via a $4m federal Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) Program grant, announced in June, and an accompanying $4m match by Georgia Central.
“The combination of 286k loadings and higher speeds will help us win a greater share of our customers’ freight volumes and make the line even more attractive to new industrial development.”
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By GlobalDataIn April, Genesee & Wyoming announced that the short line would service a $172m plastics distribution facility that is currently being constructed at the 197-acre Savannah Port Logistics Centre.
Once completed, the facility will ship around 5,000 annual carloads, starting from late 2019.
In February 2017, Genesee & Wyoming signed an agreement to acquire Heart of Georgia Railroad’s (HoG) parent company Atlantic Western Transportation.
