6 — Business Indiana, Friday, January 31, 2020
Trains keep regional economy rolling along
By PATRICK CLOONAN pcloonan@indianagazette.net R ailroads have historically played an important role in the growth and develop- ment of Indiana County. And officials at the Indiana Coun- ty Center for Economic Operations and at the Southwestern Pennsyl- vania Commission, a regional plan- ning panel for 10 counties includ- ing Indiana, see that role continu- ing. “Recognizing the role of freight in local economic development, we assist in attracting emerging indus- tries, building enhanced connec- tions to the global marketplace, and protecting mobility options to our commercial and industrial partners,” the SPC states on its website. In an executive summary to its 2016 Regional Freight Plan, one of the plan’s objectives is to “support the viability and integrity of the re- gion’s Class I, II, and III freight rail networks and related systems that will help to advance SPC’s Regional
Vision and facilitate freight and goods movement to, from, through, and within Southwestern Pennsylvania.” Two of those Class I rail networks, Norfolk Southern and CSX, operate in Indiana County, as does one of the Class II networks, Buffalo & Pittsburgh. “Though among the more rural and least populous counties in the SPC region, Indiana County is also a hub of electric power generation with major coal-fired plants that drive a substantial flow of inbound freight,” according to the commis- sion’s Indiana County Freight Pro- file. “Power plants in the area in- clude the Homer City plant, Cone- maugh plant (New Florence area), and Keystone plant (Shelocta area), each fed with coal that arrives via truck or rail from counties across the region, other areas of the state, and out-of-state sources. Balanced against a strong aggregate industry, an agricultural focus, and a vibrant community/university population centered on Indiana Borough, a
TERI ENCISO /Gazette
A SOUTHERN Pacific locomotive crossed School Street in Indiana Borough last week.
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