St. Joseph County is partnering with a local railroad to study the concept of a new rail corridor connecting with Elkhart County.
The county this week learned it’s won a nearly $575,000 federal grant, part of $2.4 billion that the Harris-Biden administration is distributing this year in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grants.
"So about a two and a half mile of track, and really it could open up some really big opportunities," said St. Joseph County Economic Development Executive Director Bill Schalliol.
He notes that construction, if it happens, is still a few years away. The county will use this first grant to hire a firm to study the potential route, including its topography, conflicts with roads and utilities, property rights and wetland impacts. After that they’d seek a second grant for engineering and design. And then a third grant would fund construction, likely partnering with Florida-based Patriot Rail, which owns the regional Elkhart and Western Railroad.
That railroad from Elkhart now ends at Currant Road in St. Joseph County. After the new connection, the tracks would bend north and run along the east side of Capital Avenue, before connecting with the Canadian National Railroad, south of Cleveland Road. Most firms now can only ship freight out of the area on the Norfolk-Southern Railroad.
Schalliol says the new rail corridor could spur new manufacturing or distribution operations, and help existing employers grow jobs.
"Elkhart County gets it a lot of its materials to build RVs and boats and modular homes, in by rail and by truck, so if there's an opportunity to get more of the product in by rail, that could save on material costs and things like that," Schalliol said.
