Contact: Maridith Geuder
During a 1:30 p.m. public program Tuesday [April 14] at Mississippi State, representatives of the federal-state Appalachian Regional Commission will join Sen. Roger Wicker and university President Mark Keenum in announcing a planning grant for the restoration of more than 200 miles of mainline Columbus-to-Greenville railway track.
The announcement takes place in the John Grisham Room of Mitchell Memorial Library. ARC Co-chair Anne Pope, Wicker and Keenum will make brief comments about the significance of an upcoming study by university researchers.
Funded by the commission, the study will assess the feasibility of a major section of the east-west rail corridor that also would include public- and private-sector participation on such issues as right-of-way improvements. An earlier university-based study indicated that rail service restoration could improve significantly local access to markets and the region's competitiveness.
A partnership of 13 states stretching from New York to South Carolina to Mississippi, the ARC was founded by Congress in 1965. It works to create opportunities for self-sustaining economic development and improved quality of life.
For more information on the event, telephone Maridith Geuder at 662-325-3442.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.