The North Carolina Railroad Company (NCRR) is a private corporation whose stock is owned by the State of North Carolina. The Company manages the use of 317 miles of track stretching from Charlotte to the Port of Morehead City. The Company’s mission is to put the North Carolina Railroad Company to work for the good of the people of North Carolina and improve our state by expanding freight rail opportunities to grow business, enabling rail to move people and investing in North Carolina.
The Need
In 2021, the North Carolina Railroad Company developed the Build Ready Sites program to enhance the state’s portfolio of available, rail-served sites that can meet future projects’ stringent timelines, while reducing development risk. NCRR led the program, in partnership with GLS, to collect community submissions, evaluate their sites, verify their information, and ultimately issue financial support for the highest-ranking locations.
The Solution
NCRR, with assistance from GLS, utilized our Site Shepherd analysis platform to score ten locations based on predetermined factors. Using Site Shepherd to evaluate the locations took any bias out of the decision-making process. Additionally, field visits were conducted to further verify the information provided in the submissions. In its inaugural year, NCRR issued $2.92 million to sites in six counties across North Carolina.
GLS is currently assisting NCRR in its second year of the program.