Received the following news item via email. It is May 14 news from RAILWAY TRACK & STRUCTURES Magazine.
RJ Corman seeks to reopen 20-mile rail line in PA.
Company will seek to reopen 20-mile rail line in Pennsylvania.
A Kentucky-based railroad company wants to reactivate 20 miles of rail line that could serve the landfill and industrial park another company wants to build in Rush Township, Pa., local newspapers report. Noel Rush, vice president for strategic planning and development at R.J. Corman Railroad, of Nicholasville, Ken., said the company plans to file the request with the federal Surface Transportation Board in the next few weeks. The proposed rail line would cover about 20 miles from Wallaceton in Clearfield County through Rush Township to the Gorton area in Snow Shoe Township.
Rush said Resource Recovery, the Lancaster County-based company that wants to build a municipal waste landfill and industrial park in the northern corner of Rush Township, is the prospective shipper that could use the rail line.
Resource Recovery has faced strong community opposition to its proposal, which includes building an Interstate 80 interchange to provide direct access to the site. Although the state Department of Environmental Protection’s review of the project is on hold, the company recently bought the 5,800-acre site for the landfill and industrial park. According to papers filed with Centre County, Resource Recovery bought the land for $3.4 million on April 25. Company President Ed Abel could not be reached for comment.
Rush said if the rail line project is a success, R.J. Corman expects to have one inbound and one outbound train a day, with 10 to 20 cars initially. He said the trains could be used to haul commodities such as “cubed” or compacted garbage to the landfill and sand and gravel from the industrial park. Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc. has said it wants to build a sandstone quarry in the park.
About half of the proposed rail line is part of the Snow Shoe Rails to Trails’ recreational route. Larry Mayes, the group’s secretary, said if the rail line is rebuilt the group will lose two historic structures: the Peale Tunnel and the Viaduct Bridge. The tunnel was built in 1883 and recently underwent a major restoration with a state grant.