Craighead Co. Justices Approve Tax-Back Program For $30 Million Factory

A Dallas-based rail car manufacturing company will make a nearly $30 million investment at its new facility in Jonesboro, company officials said Monday.

Dross Hunter and Jay Farkas, officials with TrinityRail Maintenance Services, gave Craighead County justices an update on work that will be done at the factory that was formerly a Nordex wind energy manufacturing plant.

TrinityRail officials announced in June that they would be moving into the former Nordex building on Trinity Drive, creating 350 jobs in the process.

Hunter, who is the program manager for the company, said the Jonesboro facility will repair rail cars. The company currently has 10 employees and is expected to hire five more people by the end of the month, Hunter said.

Some production is expected by the end of the year, with production being fully ramped up by mid-2015. Hunter said work will be done on the building to help meet the needs of the company.

“We will be making modifications to the facility,” Hunter said. “We will be laying some rail and adding some buildings to retrofit it.”

Hunter said he and Farkas met Monday with officials with ASU-Newport about needs that the company may have in the future.

One of those needs centers around hiring welders, Hunter said.

“I was really impressed by ASU. We could definitely use welders,” Hunter said, noting the company will be working with ASU-Newport and area high schools to meet the need.

Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Mark Young said the work to bring TrinityRail to the area was quick but productive.

“I was excited when Trinity bought the Nordex building. It is 350 jobs. It is also the fastest moving project I have finished. And it was done in three months,” Young said.

Justices also voted Monday to allow the company to participate in the Arkansas Tax Back program. The program allows companies to receive sales and use tax refunds for expansions.