Economic Development

RII assists state and local economic development groups to maximize economic development opportunities utilizing rail, whether that is preserving existing rail assets in the area, constructing new rail served facilities or developing partnerships and contracts to bring stakeholders together.

Projects

Maine DOT
RII assisted the State of Maine with due diligence for acquisition of the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railroad (MMA) to preserve these rail lines for current users and future economic growth. MMA filed to abandon over 233 miles of track in Northern Maine with existing shippers and traffic. Work has included extensive financial and economic analysis, existing and potential customer interviews along the branch line to develop current and future traffic, traffic flow analysis using public data and connecting railroad traffic data, developing operating plans, and working closely with State agencies and Shippers. RII has developed the NLV and conducted track, structure and bridge inspections of the assets. The study evaluated the public benefits, costs, and operational analysis of different ownership options as well as the potential development of a transload facility. RII also assisted the DOT with the STB abandonment challenge process, advising negotiation strategies to acquire the operation and developing the RFP for the potential third party operator as well as selection and set up of the new operator.
Six Counties Association of Governments
This project, a collaboration of six counties in Utah led by the Sevier County Economic Development team, has been working on establishing a central Utah rail line to connect its coal mines and local shippers directly to the rail system and west coast export ports. The project has been revised and revisited several times over the years as changes in the coal industry, economy and port regulations occur, and RII has coordinated with the numerous coal companies owning and operating mines in the area. RII has been the lead consultant on the project, including developing the traffic for the line with potential customers and the coal company, developing the operational economics, developing the RFP for a short line operator on the line (including document development, liabilities, short listing and selection of the short line operator, working with the county’s engineering team on environmental issues, alignments and capital costs, and developing numerous revised operating plans based on changing parameters such as traffic levels, customer, port and Class I requirements.
Economic Development Coalition of Southwest Indiana (EDCSI)
The EDCSI contacted RII because one of the largest employers in Evansville, IN was at risk for moving its facilities out of Evansville. Berry Global, a worldwide plastics manufacturer, was faced with losing rail service from CSX at its facility in Evansville, which would have caused Berry to relocate its facilities somewhere else. RII managed the entire process of negotiating a new service plan with CSX for Berry’s complex logistics, including modeling the operating plans to determine which options would be most economical for Berry; locating, negotiating and securing car storage in transit contracts with local industries with tracks, the Port of Evansville and CSX; developing the entire Request for Bids for new track construction and Request for Proposals for a new third party switching operator; selecting and negotiating contracts with other service providers and implementation of the entire plan. The project involved working with over 10 different stakeholder companies and organizations, negotiating and developing a plan that benefited all parties.
Nevada Governor's Office of Economic Development
Tesla Manufacturing was in the process of selecting a new site for its new battery gigafactory. There were 3 sites being considered at the time, each with its own benefits of property costs, local tax incentives and transportation access: Northern Nevada, Texas and New Mexico. The State of Nevada contracted RII to develop the transportation costs for each of the three sites for comparison. RII developed the appropriate rail, truck and ship transportation costing for moving all inbound raw materials as well as finished batteries to the car manufacturing facility in Fremont, CA. Based on materials, volumes, origins and destinations provided by Tesla, RII developed all transportation costs for all three facilities and aggregated the total annual costs for comparison. RII also assisted in putting the results into a presentation that the State used to convince Tesla to locate in Nevada.
Tulare County and Fresno Councils of Governments
The San Joaquin Valley Railroad (SJVR) includes several branches running through different counties in Central California. A branch line runs through eastern Tulare County, serving many rural shippers. The SJVR had been systematically abandoning segments of this track for the last several year and Tulare County was attempting to stop the abandonments, including negotiations with SJVR and its previous owner RailAmerica for acquisition of the line for current and future economic development. TCAG contracted RII to develop a business plan to justify the acquisition of 70 miles of track, including the two segments of track currently petitioned for abandonment, plus an additional 30 mile section that completes the branch line. The intent was to preserve the entire corridor and ensure there is a substantial enough operation for a new operator to run profitably. This Business Plan intended to both justify the acquisition of the rail line as a responsible use of public funds and to provide TCAG with a roadmap for moving forward. A complete inspection of the line, customer surveys and traffic development, commodity forecasts, an evaluation of the line and operating plan with business economics was presented to TCAG and other stakeholders. This presentation was so well received that Fresno Council of Governments also contracted RII to perform a similar analysis of their section of the SJVR.