Support for Rail
Congressman Baron Hill was the first member of the Indiana delegation to sign on as a co-sponsor to HR 2116-the Freight Railroad Infrastructure Capacity Expansion Act, after I visited The Hill in October…Congressman Souder signed on to co-sponsor the bill shortly after Baron Hill.
Today’s H-T published a letter to the editor written by the president and chief executive officer of The Indiana Rail Road Company, Thomas G. Hoback, of Indianapolis. He thanks Representative Buyer for supporting legislation for rail capacity expansion incentives:
“U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer deserves thanks for his help in leading the effort to extend the short-line rehabilitation tax credit. This legislation, HR 1584, provides local railroads with an incentive to maximize their investment in track rehabilitation.
The Indiana Rail Road Company operates more than 500 miles of track in Indiana and Illinois. We employ more than 170 individuals and serve approximately 100 local customers, who rely on local railroads to provide quality transportation services on more than 3,239 miles in these two states. The proposed legislation will allow us to continue to provide high quality service to those customers by helping us make significant investment in track rehabilitation.
For local businesses, having a connection to the mainline rail network allows them to sell their products to many more customers. Because rail transportation is cheaper than alternative modes, these businesses can also be more price competitive.
Short-line railroads provide other important benefits. One railcar takes three-to-four truckloads off the highway. In Indiana and Illinois, short-line railroads handle the equivalent of 1,883,851 truckloads annually, which reduces pavement damage costs by $172 million. Railroads use one-third less fuel to move a ton of freight than comparable truck transportation.
The legislation supported by Rep. Buyer is good for our economy and good for our environment.” ~ Thomas G. Hoback
November 27th, 2007 at 10:31 am
Great news–the improvement of our rail system is critical. But more importantly we must remove all flower pods and the like that get in the way of elected officials walking backwards on our city sidewalks.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
VERY FUNNY. I guess you heard about my incredible ability to fall down backwards in SLOW MOTION. That was totally ridiculous. I wonder what the
table of nice people in the window of the Uptown thought. “Hey, look at that upside down turtle…oh, wait, that’s a County Councilwoman!”
November 27th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Is that posted on youtube?
November 28th, 2007 at 9:08 am
I hope NOT!