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Working on the railroad again
by
Heather B. Hayes
Virginia Business
March
2005
The
rail industry is once again in vogue in Roanoke, thanks
to the decision by FreightCar America Inc. to begin
manufacturing rail cars in Norfolk Southern’s
East End shops. Chicago-based Freight-Car America, which
has been in the rail car business since 1901, will lease
the space but invest $5.5 million in setting up operations
and creating 400 jobs during the next 30 months.
Initially,
the company will hire mechanical assemblers, welders
and painters in producing aluminum freight cars. Other
designs will eventually be built at the site. The company
already has started moving in and plans to make its
first deliveries in the second quarter of this year.
The
historic East End shops, once a hub of railroad support
activity, haven’t been used to make rail cars
or locomotives in five years.
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