MP to apply for grant to extend Burlington Junction Railway

Mt. Pleasant businesses now and in the future may have the option of moving product in and out by rail if the city is awarded a grant to extend the Burlington Junction Railway.

The Mt. Pleasant City Council authorized Mayor Steve Brimhall to sign an application for the Linking Iowa's Freight Transportation System (LIFTS) grant Wednesday, Nov. 28. This grant would help Burlington Junction Railway pay for extending more rail line and building a 50-by-120-foot building to serve as a load station for existing and future businesses wanting to transport goods by rail.

The Burlington Junction Railway already owns the land where the building would be built.

'The LIFTS grant is to interconnect trucks, freight and barge traffic,” City Administrator Brent Schleisman said. 'If we get it, and I hope we do, it does provide a lot of potential opportunities to recruit businesses.”

The city is under no financial obligation with this loan. The business must come up with a 20 percent cash match for the grant, which Schleisman said would either come from a private developer or other funding.

'We have a number of companies in town that use the Burlington Junction Railway. Some companies who don't have a spur will take trucks to the rail they need to go to, but there's really no place to load (their product),” said Kristi Ray, Executive Vice President of the Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance.

Southeast Iowa Regional Planning is working with the Burlington Junction Railway on improvements to the railway, Ray said.

Brimhall said that the trucking industry is in need of drivers and they're getting harder and harder to find.

'I have a feeling down the road freight will be used to a larger extent,” Brimhall said. 'It's another way to move product in and out. We've been talking about this for 15 to 20 years.”