The Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) on March 18 approved a $750,000 Rail Industrial Access (RIA) grant to the Virginia Poultry Growers Cooperative (VPGC) in Rockingham County. Administered by the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT), the funding will be used by VPGC to expand its Grain Unloading Station in Linville, Va.
With a total capital investment of $85 million, the project, DRPT says, “will increase the amount of grain the facility can move by rail. The CTB-approved expansion will double VPGC’s current railcar usage to approximately 1,000 annually. It also will reduce truck traffic including on nearby I-81, by an additional estimated 1,700 trips each year, while creating six new jobs.” The rail component includes $1.5 million in track construction, served by the Chesapeake & Western Railway, connecting to the Norfolk Southern (NS) main line.
“This project is great news for Virginia’s farmers and the Shenandoah Valley,” said DRPT Director Mariia Zimmerman. “By expanding rail access at this facility, we are helping to lower costs and improve access for local poultry growers while keeping hundreds of trucks off our roads. It is a win for agriculture, a win for the economy, and a win for communities across the Commonwealth.”
“We appreciate DRPT’s partnership in this project,” said Grant Martin, Vice President of Live and Feed with VPGC. “With this funding, we can move more grain by rail, take trucks off the road, and provide stronger, more reliable support to our member farms across the Shenandoah Valley.”
Founded in 2004 when local farmers united to preserve turkey production, VPGC has grown to nearly 200 member farms, up from about 130 at its inception. The cooperative applied for the RIA grant to support track construction and improvements at the Linville facility.
VPGC opened their Grain Unloading Station in 2008 to support a future feed milling facility. While construction of the feed mill was delayed, “growing demand now makes expanded rail infrastructure essential to support feed production and the long-term success of member farms,” DRPT noted.
