The state transportation cabinet has announced nearly $1.3 million in grants to improver freight transportation by updating rail crossings.
Kentucky Economic Development Cabinet Spokesman Jack Mazurak said 13% of the state’s workforce is in manufacturing, compared to a national average of just over 8%.
“We have a much broader and larger manufacturing base per capita in the state than other states and rail is critical to that. It’s important to maintain rails, to maintain crossings.”
Mazurak says those trains move products from various industries including coal, aerospace, automotive, metals, chemicals, and timber.
The state economic development official says the Commonwealth’s relatively large amount of manufacturing and its central location in the U.S. make rail a key cog in the economic wheel. Kentucky, he said, is “very much central in the eastern portion of the U.S. We’re not subject to hurricanes. We’re not subject to a lot of inclement weather or as many unpredictable weather events. It’s a good place to be if you want to be manufacturing and you want to be distributing those goods.”
Mazurak says there are almost 2,700 miles of railroad across Kentucky with 3,200 people employed directly in the rail industry.