PINE BLUFF - Officials in southeast Arkansas are hoping the renovation of an aging industrial railroad line will help spark economic development in 2014.
The rail line links Louisiana’s Lake Providence port on the Mississippi River tothe Union Pacific Railroad in McGehee.
Glen Bell, executive director of the Southeast Arkansas Economic Development District, said the state has given $4.5 million for the project, and Louisiana has provided $2 million to renovate the 90-mile line.
The renovations should be complete sometime next year.
“Our hope is that we can create some industrial sites that will be able to access this rail line,” Bell said.
“We are talking to potential industrial companies right now,” Bell said. “They want to know how much it will cost them to get their raw materials to and from thesites they need to go, and we are providing that for them.”
A message left at the office of Louisiana Economic Development about the project was not returned.
A section of the rail line between Lake Village and McGehee is active, but its reliability and train speeds are limited because of the track’s age, said Chicot County Judge Mack Ball Jr.
The line is used primarily to transport agriculture products, such as cotton and timber.
Ball said he and other southeast Arkansas officials are looking forward to the potential economic effect the renovated rail line will have on the area.
“Having this rail line back in Chicot County would be a transportation tool for the industries we already have that have not been able to use it and a tool to draw in new companies,” Ball said.
“Anytime you can do something like this, you are helping the local economy. We feel this is going to be something that will greatly benefit our county.”
In addition to aiding industries in Arkansas, the renovated line will provide industries in northeast Louisiana with quicker access to the Union Pacific Railroad in McGehee, Bell said.
“They currently have to use Kansas City Southern Railroad and go to Monroe, then switch there to Union Pacific if they want to head north, and that’s expensive,” Bell said. “We are giving them a cheaper alternative, and it will benefit all involved.”
Bell said one goal after the rail line’s renovation is marketing the area nationally in hopes of attracting a major industrial company. An economic development study on the area is being conducted by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Louisiana Tech University in Ruston.
“We hope the end result will allow us to create a strategy and implementation plan for this area,” Bell said. “We are working very hard on this project, and its potential is ripe. It’s going to be very good for this area.”
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 12/29/2013