A group hoping to preserve freight rail shipping in the Northwoods is going to try for a third time to get a federal grant to get rail cars for use by loggers.
The Northwoods Rail Transit Commission has been working toward a plan to help the industry. Officials say the harvesting and transporting of logs throughout the Great Lakes forest area has long suffered from the lack of private investment to provide an adequate fleet of railcars dedicated to transportation of logs forest-to-mill.
Darryl Landeau from North Central Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission says they have lost out twice on federal transportation grants known by the acronym "TIGER"...
"What we're applying for in the Tiger grants to fund a log car fleet to help out the logging industry up there to help out the issues they have moving logs...."
Landeau says they hope to purchase modern rail cars to encourage rail provider Canadian National to haul the logs...
"....the fleet the railroad has is getting older and the return on investment for those cars isn't there for the railroad. They're not in a position to buy new railcars on their own. So the idea is we would develop a log car fleet...."
Landeau says after getting advice on the grant application they are forming a committee to complie a third attempt at the grant. The group consists of 13 counties in Wisconsin and 7 from the Upper Peninsula. The freight rail provider is Canadian National Railroad.
