Article published Friday, March 14, 2008 $150,000 grant to help fix railroad tracks, yard COLUMBUS - The Ohio Rail Development Commission yesterday approved a grant worth up to $150,000 for track repairs on a northwest Ohio railroad, including railyard improvements in Defiance expected to support two new shippers. Maumee & Western Railroad will match the state grant on a dollar-for-dollar basis as it repairs track in the Defiance Yard and also a one-mile stretch of main line between Defiance and Napoleon that a rail commission report said is "particularly in need of rehabilitation." Repairing track in the railyard will allow Maumee & Western to develop a small rail-truck transload facility that would handle an estimated 200 freight-car loads annually. The track improvements also would allow Johns Manville, an industry located next to the yard, to use heavier freight cars for its shipments, the commission said. As part of a broader, statewide package of rail projects it approved yesterday, the rail commission also authorized a $75,000 grant to the Indiana Northeastern Railroad to be used to repair three miles of track in Williams County, eliminate a farm underpass, and renovate four road crossings. The Indiana Northeastern also would match state funds used for the improvements.
