Bipartisan Effort Would Impact Short Line Railroads in Luzerne, Lycoming, Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties, Among Others / Short Line Railroad Tax Credit Expired Last Year, Allows Small Railroad Companies to Make Infrastructure Upgrades
Washington, DC- Today, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) announced that he and several members of the Senate have introduced the Short line Railroad Rehabilitation and Investment Act, which would allow Short Line railroads to deduct up to 50% of investments made in track repair, improving infrastructure at railroads across Pennsylvania. The bipartisan bill would impact Short Line railroads in places like Luzerne, Lycoming, Philadelphia and Allegheny Counties, among others. Since the tax credit expired in December, Casey is pushing for Congress to pass the bill this year.
“Short Line railroads help businesses across Pennsylvania move their goods,” Senator Casey said. “Renewing this tax credit will allow railroad companies to upgrade their infrastructure so that rail continues to have a role in boosting the Commonwealth’s economy.”
Short line railroads are branches of lines of larger railroads that were spun off to be the on and off ramps to the railroad network. A tax credit will be given for 50 cents of every dollar that a customer or supplier spends on rail improvements, allowing small railroad companies to increase investments in track repair, as well as other qualifying investments. There are 10 Short Line Railroad carriers operating in Pennsylvania that save the government millions of dollars in highway costs. The tax credit act originated with the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004, expired in January 2008, but was retroactively applied to extend through January 2012.
This bill will extend through 2016 the Section 45G Short Line Railroad tax credit, which expired on December 31, 2014. This extension would allow new Short Line railroads that were constructed after 2004 to be included into the tax incentive.
Pennsylvania Short Line Railroads
- Allegheny Valley Railroad
- Brandywine Valley Railroad
- Chestnut Ridge Railway Company
- Conemaugh & Black Lick Railroad
- East Erie Commercial RailroadKnox & Kane Railroad
- Luzerne & Susquehanna Railroad
- Lycoming Valley Railroad
- Middletown & Hummelstown Railroad
- New Castle Industrial Railroad
- New Hope & Ivyland Railroad
- Oil Creek & Titusville Lines
- North Shore Railroad System
- Philadelphia, Bethlehem & New England Railroad
- Pittsburgh, Allegheny & McKees Rocks Railroad
- Reading & Northern Railroad
- Southwestern Pennsylvania Railroad
- Steelton & Highspire Railroad
- Turtle Creek Industrial Railroad
- Tyburn Railroad
- · Union Railroad
- Upper Merion & Plymouth Railroad
- York Railway
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