This agreement funds the appalachian and ohio railroad, INC. (the grantee), a class III short line railroad to replace an aging, obsolete traffic control system (TCS) with a new and modern broken rail…

This agreement funds the appalachian and ohio railroad, INC. (the grantee), a class III short line railroad to replace an aging, obsolete traffic control system (TCS) with a new and modern broken rail detection system (brds) on the signaled portion of the appalachian ohio (a o) rail line (the line) extending from grafton, west virginia to buckhannon, west virginia, a distance of 42 miles (the project). The grantee has served west virginia by providing freight transportation since IT was formed in 2005. The grantees rail line and the freight services help drive the regions rural economy and provide an alternative to shipping freight via the regions highways. The grantee is undertaking the project and partnering with the rural communities IT serves to continue operations and maintain access to the U.S. And worldwide marketplace for west virginia shippers, communities, and its customers. On october 25, 2021, the FRA approved the grantee and CSX transportation, INC.s (csxt) block signal application, subject to the condition that the brds be installed on the entire 42-mile signaled portion of the a o rail line. The objective of the project is to improve safety and rail resiliency to benefit freight and passenger rail. Specifically, this project will enable the grantee to install the brds in order to continue operations over the line allow the grantee to remain a viable option for shippers for decades to come mitigate congestion and environmental emissions in the region, which will promote the health and welfare of those that live and work in the region reduce the likelihood of derailments and other high consequence events on the line and reduce highway accidents generally by keeping freight on the line, instead of shipping freight via truck and advance regional economic development in rural west virginia and national economic development by connecting industries from this local region to processors and end-users nationwide.