Area Development
Progress Rail Services, a subsidiary of Caterpillar, has selected Muncie, Indiana, for a locomotive manufacturing plant to produce diesel-electric locomotives. The company says the project could create up to 650 jobs by 2012.

"We are pleased to announce the opening of this state-of-the-art facility that will allow us to better serve our customers," said Billy Ainsworth, president and CEO of Progress Rail Services. "We believe the Muncie community and the state of Indiana will offer our organization an outstanding location from which we will produce world-class products."

The company will invest approximately $50 million in the facility, which will be the first in years in the United States. The plant is an existing 740,000-square-foot building that closed in 1998. Progress will also build a locomotive test track there.

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) offered Progress up to $3.5 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $1 million in training grants. The IEDC will also provide Muncie with up to $1 million in infrastructure assistance from the state's Industrial Development Grant Fund. The state will help the company apply for a $1 million federal Community Development Block Grant. And Delaware County will consider a tax abatement, community revitalization enhancement district, and tax increment financing request of approximately $22.5 million at the request of the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance.