Ports of Indiana lands grant for $16M rail yard at Mount Vernon port
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The Ports of Indiana has received the largest federal grant in its history to build a $16 million rail yard and transload facility at its Mount Vernon port. The $11,249,000 grant was announced Friday by the U.S. Maritime Administration, a division of the Transportation Department.
The port authority said in a news release that the project on 30 acres along State Road 62 will include 13,000 feet of track dedicated to railcar switching and 7,000 feet of track that will facilitate cargo transfers between truck and rail.
“This is the largest federal grant in Ports of Indiana history and it will have far-reaching impacts throughout the Southwest Indiana economy,” Ports of Indiana CEO Jody Peacock said. “We are extremely grateful to MARAD and our Indiana officials for supporting this effort. Once completed, this project could double our port’s rail capacity and create a major transload hub that connects throughout the U.S. on four Class I railroads.”
The Mount Vernon port now handles 7 million tons of cargo and 40,000 railcars annually, while its operations support 8,200 jobs and generate $1.6 billion in economic impact per year, the Ports of Indiana said.
The new project also will include 20,000 feet of rail track, five new rail-truck transload zones, a cargo storage yard, a truck scale and scale house, truck marshaling areas, facility lighting, security improvements and more than 5 acres of new paved roadways.
The Mount Vernon grant was one of 31 port infrastructure development awards by the U.S. Maritime Administration in 15 states and one U.S. territory, totaling nearly $580 million, Ports of Indiana said.
The announcement marks the latest development at the Mount Vernon port. In September, Inside INdiana Business reported the Ports of Indiana and its new rail operator, OmniTrax, created a new railroad to coordinate rail connections and assemble outbound trains at the port.
The Ports of Indiana operates two ports on the Ohio River, Mount Vernon and Jeffersonville, and one port on Lake Michigan, Burns Harbor. The port operator last year recorded a near record amount of cargo in its 63-year history, Inside INdiana Business reported.