News

Railcar manufacturer selects North Alabama for new facility

July 19, 2007 — National Industries Inc. has announced the formation of a new subsidiary, National Alabama Corporation, which will invest an estimated $350 million to build a railcar manufacturing plant in Sheffield, Alabama.

The Canadian firm, based in Hamilton, Ontario, is the parent company of National Steel Car Limited, a leading North American railcar manufacturer since 1912. The plant will be National Industries’ first U.S. facility and will be located in Barton Industrial Park. It will provide about 1,800 jobs with higher-than-average wages.

National Steel Car is currently the largest single-site manufacturing facility for freight railway cars in North America, and is capable of producing 15,000 new freight railroad cars per year. The Alabama facility is expected to produce about 10,000 units annually.

National Steel Car has invested heavily in modern technology and new plant over the past decade, according to the company, and the Alabama operation will employ an engineered "greenfield" high-quality manufacturing process. The new plant is expected to be operational in early 2009.

"We undertook a comprehensive assessment to determine the best possible North American site," said Gregory Aziz, chairman and CEO of National Industries. "I cannot say enough about the support we received during this rigorous process by all participants...We are very pleased to be undertaking this investment in The Muscle Shoals District and Colbert County, Alabama."

Partners in the project included Sheffield Utilities, the Shoals Economic Development Authority, the Alabama Development Office, the North Alabama Industrial Development Association, officials from Colbert and Lauderdale counties, and TVA.