Lkae State Rail Company Receives Congressman Kildee, Transportation Secretary Buttigieg to Talk Infrastructure

US Congrssman Dan Kildee and US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited the Lake State Railway Company in Saginaw Thursday, June 2 to highlightthe local impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

Railroads like the Lake State Railway Company are a critical link in the supply chains that transport products to store shelves in Michigan and Michigan-made products to market. Before the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, decades of disinvestment resulted in crumbling infrastructure that increased shipping costs for businesses and made Michigan less competitive. The new law nearly triples funding for the Department of Transportation’s Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant program, a critical rail infrastructure program, to $1 billion a year for the next five years. The funding will allow railroads nationwide to complete much-needed projects to strengthen supply chains, reduce congestion and get people and goods where they need to be faster and cheaper.

Since 2019, the Lake State Railway Company has received more than $15 million in federal funds to improve the safety, efficiency, and reliability of its railway, which serves Saginaw, Midland, Bay City and Flint. This funding helped fund the replacement of 60 miles of rail in LSRC’s Mackinaw and Huron subdivisions with new continuous welded rail, replacing century-old track to allow heavier train loads to move more quickly and safely.

Congressman Kildee supported, and President Biden signed into law, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law—the largest investment in America’s infrastructure and economic competitiveness in nearly a century—delivering at least $10 billion in new infrastructure investments to Michigan.