(La Porte, IN) - Kingsbury Industrial Park will finally be served by a major rail line.

 

The over decade long effort paid off when the La Porte County Commissioners on Wednesday approved a contract for connecting the park to the CSX Railroad.

 

Eventually, the plan is to connect the park to another major trunk line owned by Canadian National Railroad.

The hope is two Class 1 railroads serving both ends of the park will attract major industries.

 

“It’s been a long, long haul. We’re glad to see it at this stage,” said La Porte County Commission president Sheila Matias.

 

JBC Rail will install 4,500 linear feet of track to connect existing rail inside the park to the CSX trunk line, said Matt Reardon with the LaPorte County Office of Economic and Community Development.

 

“We’re going to connect the dots,” he said.

 

JBC Rail will also operate the rail spur installed in 2013 for diverting CSX trains to and from the main trunk line once the connection was made.

 

Reardon said all of the new rail tying into the trunk line could be laid before the end of the year.

 

“We’re ready to go,” he said.

 

The work is being funded with a $1 million grant from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.

 

Reardon said the connection with Canadian National will happen once financing for that project has been secured.

 

The industrial park contains 8,000 acres.

 

Much of the land consists of the Kingsbury Fish and Wildlife area.

 

Some of the remaining ground is used for things such as light industrial, warehousing and farming.

 

Reardon said about 2,000 acres zoned for heavy manufacturing, warehousing, distribution and trans-loading is available for development.

 

Originally, fresh produce from Florida unloaded from trains and placed on trucks for local delivery was the vision for the park when the push began for making the trunk line connections.

 

A deal with the interested company never materialized, though.

 

Legal problems between developers and property owners along with matters related to acquiring easements for laying the new track were also factors in holding up the trunk line connection.

 

Reardon said the park is on the radar screens of developers hesitant to invest until the site is served by a major rail carrier.

 

“It’s exciting to be at this point,” said LaPorte County attorney Shaw Friedman, a key figure in further developing the park from the beginning.

 

La Porte County spent $6 million toward the cost of developing the rail spur.

 

Those funds will be returned from property taxes generated when new development increases the current assessed value of the land, officials said.