Letters of Support Date Commentor Organization 1. 05/27/2015 Matthew Dietrich, Executive Director Ohio Rail Development Commission 2. 05/13/2015 Robert McColley, Ohio State Representative The Ohio House of Representatives 3. 05/28/2015 Terry E. McDonald, City of New Haven Mayor 4. 05/22/2015 Michael Riley, Manager, Rail Office Indiana Department of Transportation 5. 05/04/2015 Jerry L. Zielke, Director Paulding County Economic Development, Inc. 6. 05/15/2015 Amanda Griffith, Executive Director The Community Improvement Corporation of Henry County 7. 05/11/2015 Plant Manager Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. 8. 05/14/2015 Kelly D. Johnson, Campbell Soup Company Vice President of Government Affairs 9. 05/28/2015 Fred Lanahan, President Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association 10. 04/22/2015 Ron Halm, Cloverleaf Cold Storage Regional Director 11. 05/04/2015 Vice President Glycerin Traders, LLC 12. 05/07/2015 General Manager Interstate Cold Storage 13. 05/15/2015 Brent Petersen, Jewell Grain Company General Manager 14. 05/04/2015 Susan Arend, Mercer Landmark, Inc. Location Manager, Antwerp Branch 15. 05/04/2015 Scott Parker, President North America Cold Storage, Inc. 16. 05/21/2015 Timothy Porter, NOPRA Chairman Northwest Ohio Passenger Rail Association 17. 05/15/2015 Ray E. Plummer, R&L Enterprises General Partner 18. 05/14/2015 Richard Lange, Republic Mills, Inc. General Manager 19. 05/08/2015 Jeff Hunyor, Site Manager Systech Environmental Corporation 20. 06/2/2015 Jeffrey Scott, Plant Manager, Paulding Cement Plant Lafarge North America, Inc.
May 27, 2015 The Honorable Anthony R. Foxx Secretary United States Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 Dear Secretary Foxx, The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) would like to express its support of the Napoleon, Defiance, & Western Railway (ND&W) proposed TIGER project to improve 46 miles of its tracks between Woodburn, Indiana and Napoleon, Ohio. ORDC supports this project because the nearly $11 million in track upgrades will return a rail line long ignored by previous owners to a state of good repair. These track repairs will also help the ND&W enhance the safety of its operations by reducing derailments and providing a much safer track on which to operate. The 53 mile long Woodburn, Indiana to Liberty Center, Ohio line had suffered from years of deferred maintenance. When the ND&W took over the line in December, 2012, it was unquestionably the worst track in Ohio and perhaps the worst in the nation. Derailments were a daily occurrence. The 12 miles of track between Defiance and Cecil were out of service and impassible. The ND&W was, in effect, running two railroads, one from Woodburn to Cecil, and one from Defiance to Napoleon. (The Napoleon to Liberty Center portion of the line remains out of service with no active customers.) Please see the attached map. ORDC has established a very good public-private partnership with the ND&W since it took over the line. The ND&W has partnered with ORDC, as well as local communities, to take on the task of revitalizing the line. ORDC has assisted the ND&W by investing $2.1 million in grant and loan funds for three separate projects. Additionally the ND&W has expended nearly $3.8 million of their own funds for capital projects on the line in its short tenure as owner. ORDC believes the ND&W proposal clearly meets many of the TIGER Program goals and objectives. The proposed project will enhance the economic competitiveness of the area. Currently track conditions on the ND&W prevent shippers on the east end of the line from effectively using the ND&W s interchange with Norfolk Southern in Woodburn, Indiana. Similarly, rail users on the west end of the line cannot effectively use CSX service through the ND&W s Defiance interchange. A significant issue is that track conditions on the mid-section of the line cannot handle any substantial train loadings. The proposed project will improve this middle segment, as well as tracks that serve customers on each end of the line, bringing it to a condition that facilitates true competitive access for ND&W rail users to both NS and CSX.
The dual rail access that ND&W would be able to provide would impact shippers that employ over 2,000 people in rural areas of Ohio and Indiana. In addition, economic development officials along the line would be able to tout the ND&W s dual rail access to attract new business to over 1,300 acres of land in established rural industrial parks along the line in Napoleon, Defiance, Antwerp, and Woodburn. With an upgraded US 24 running parallel to the line, the rail access created by this TIGER project would create a true multimodal corridor that would greatly enhance the economic development potential of the region. For these reasons, I hope you will look favorably on this project. If you need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us. Sincerely, Matthew Dietrich Executive Director C: Jerry Wray, Director, ODOT J. Michael Carr, CEO, Pioneer/ND&W Michael Riley, Indiana DOT
Napoleon, Defiance, & Western Railway Napoleon, OH Liberty Center, OH 0 2.5 5 10 Miles N Defiance, OH Cecil, OH Woodburn, IN