"We entered a contract to store up to 80 rail cars," Dick Neumann said during a regular meeting of the Perry County Port Authority Board of Directors. Twenty cars were to find parking places on Hoosier Southern sidings, he said, adding, "a lot of railroads are storing a lot of cars these days."
The port-rail agency's fabrication-shop roof was undergoing repairs, the vice president and chief executive officer said, with 75 percent of the cost covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The building sustained roof damage in high winds spawned by September's Hurricane Ike. Half of the FEMA payment was already paid, Neumann said.
The federal government also declared it would fund costs resulting from a January ice storm, Neumann continued.
In an ongoing effort to upgrade rail facilities to handle 286,000-pound cars, Neumann opted, after reviews by legal and engineering consultants, to accept a bid from A & K Railroad Materials Inc.'s Chicago office.
The three bids received and opened at the board's February meeting appeared to be under the engineer's estimate, Neumann said then, which called for $867,000 in new rail, joint bars, tie plates and spikes. The work will include upgrades to three bridges.
