Economic Development speaks on TrinityRail’s return

May 13, 2014

Some weeks after signs of life began at the TrinityRail location in Cartersville, the Cartersville-Bartow County Department of Economic Development officially welcomed the company back in a statement Monday.

“It is a pleasure to have TrinityRail returning to their existing Cartersville rail car facility,” said Melinda Lemmon, executive director of the Cartersville-Bartow County Department of Economic Development. “The state of Georgia and the city of Cartersville are working with TrinityRail on this expansion effort that we will be significant for our community and the state.”

Job openings appeared mid-April on the Trinity Industries hiring website. The 23 positions included plant manager, supervisors, managers and other production-oriented openings. “Over the next several months there are a number of factors that will shape the project in regard to the number of potential employees and investment,” Lemmon said.

The company laid off 659 employees in 2009, citing “a downturn in orders” in a statement to The Daily Tribune News at that time.

Lemmon said her department is working alongside other agencies to make the transition as smooth as possible.

“Our Rapid Response Team is already working hard to support a seamless startup. We are grateful to the governor’s office and the Georgia Department of Economic Development for their lead in the project, particularly Carl Campbell, Region 1 project manager,” she said.

In April, parent company Trinity Industries announced record quarterly revenues and net income for its first quarter of 2014, with revenues of $1.5 billion and net income of $226.4 million. The numbers represented year-over-year increases of 57 percent and 186 percent, respectively.

According to a press release, the company’s rail group received orders for 9,625 new railcars during the first quarter. The orders contributed to a total backlog of 42,630 units valued at $5.2 billion. The rail group itself reported record revenues, according to the release, of $857.4 million and an operating profit of $167.5 million.

“During the first quarter, all of our business groups improved their results, increasing both operating profit and margin compared to the prior year,” said Trinity Chairman, CEO and President Timothy R. Wallace in the release. “Since the fourth quarter of 2010, we have been successful in extended year-over-year growth in revenue and net income. These are tremendous accomplishments, and I am very proud of our people, whose capabilities and hard work enabled us to realign our manufacturing capacity to meet strong demand for our products and services that support the oil, gas and chemical industries.”

Trinity Industries is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has five main business segments: rail, railcar leasing and management services, inland barges, construction products and energy equipment.

Article by Daily Tribune