One of the country’s biggest railroad facilities is coming to the southern part of west central Illinois.
On Friday, the Kansas City Southern Railroad announced that it would be moving to Jerseyville, and that they anticipate the transition to have a substantial impact on not only transportation in the region, but also on logistics infrastructure, as well as an economic boost for all of Midwest America.
Specifically, the Kansas City Southern Railroad will immediately create around one thousand jobs in the area, with an additional thousand jobs expected to follow in the years to come.
Several local and state officials were in attendance for Friday’s announcement, including Jerseyville Mayor William Russell, local State Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer, and even Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner. Mayor Russell describes the Jerseyville business community as energized and excited about moving forward with the project. He also says that landing the Kansas City Southern Railroad is “probably the largest impact and opportunity our community will ever have. Our whole region, from the southern part of Illinois, all along corridor 67, we’ve brought this forward as a regional concept for jobs and for our young people.”
Representative Davidsmeyer says, “Having the railroad come here in this facility is a major investment in this entire region and the entire state of Ilinois.” In terms of the potential economic impact on west central Illinois, Davidsmeyer says, “We are looking at thousands of job. We’re looking at…hundreds of millions of dollars being invested right here.” He goes on to predict that unemployment “is going to start to shoot down and people we are ready to put to work we are excited to get moving,”
The move to Jerseyville comes out to a $500 million economic investment and development that will be privately funded by Stonemont Financial Group out of Atlanta, Georgia, in partnership with the Jerseyville Economic Development Council and Kansas City Southern Railroad.