By Clint Thompson
Railroads are an essential part of the agricultural industry. One U.S. Senator is doing his part in ensuring the railways remain a viable transportation option in one Georgia county.
U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (GA) is helping upgrade the rail line for Candler County.
“I have worked to build support in the Senate and pass with both republican and democratic support an allocation of resources to repair and upgrade the Metter-Register Rail Line in Candler County. It’s vital for our state’s agricultural sector and economic development in the region,” Ossoff said.
The line is a major route for fertilizers for Georgia farms. Reparations done to the line will allow safe, 10 miles per hour service and reduce the potential of a shutdown.
“There’s been substantial heat damage to the line over the years. Currently, train speeds are limited to less than 5 miles per hour. Without repairs, there’s also the greater risk of future derailments,” Ossoff said. “If this rail line is inoperative, then that forces all of that heavy freight transportation onto trucks on our roadways which is more expensive, less efficient and burdens our road system with heavy truck traffic.
“I’m very focused on upgrading Georgia’s infrastructure to support our economic development, to support our agricultural sectors. With this allocation that I’ve passed, and again I want to stress that I got this done with support from republicans and democrats in the Senate, it’s going to support the rehabilitation of more than 12 miles of rail line. We’re talking about replacing around 6,000 ties and resurfacing more than 60,000 track feet, 3,000 tons of rock ballast that are going to be added to support the structure as well as the improvement of crossings.”
Improvements to the rail system is an important step for the agricultural industry, according to Ossoff.
“Freight rail is a very important part of our infrastructure. It’s important for our agricultural sector and for all sectors of our economy. Through the bi-partisan infrastructure legislation that we passed in the last 18 months, there are more opportunities to upgrade Georgia’s transportation infrastructure, including our freight rail line to support farmers and economic development and to keep what should be moving by rail off of our roads,” he added.