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INFRASTRUCTURE ON THE GROUND LEVEL

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, feed mills and grain elevators are eligible to receive funding for their own infrastructure projects.

“This bill is not limited to solely supporting government infrastructure projects,” says Kagen. “Individuals, small businesses, family farms and private companies can apply for existing grants, loans and other programs by contacting program coordinators at the state level.”

Gerry Leukam, senior vice presidentm, technical operations, at T. E. Ibberson Company, says plenty can be done to improve both rail and truck infrastructure at the site level.

RAILWAYS

Rail companies give discounts to large-volume shippers, those who can unload an entire shuttle train of 90 to 110 cars in 12 to 15 hours. In order to take advantage of the freight savings and avoid additional fees, Leukam suggests adding rail infrastructure and high-speed unloading systems and possibly motion rail scales to existing facilities.

“Feed mills and elevators need enough track on-site to get the train off the main line and onto their property,” says Leukam. “When the train is dropped off, the rail company may leave the engines on, allowing you to move the train on your property so it can be loaded or unloaded within a required amount of time.”

Leukam says that if more facilities could update their rail infrastructure, it would indirectly affect our highways for the better. “I believe if more facilities were able to utilize freight rail, we would see trains used more than trucks, which would decrease traffic on other infrastructure [highways and interstates] systems,” Leukam says. “The rail companies need to regain customer confidence for consistent delivery and pickup schedules.”