VAE Nortrak Cheyenne Inc., a company that opened its Cheyenne facility in 1997 with the help of Cheyenne LEADS, announced today the opening of its new 37,500-square-foot manufacturing plant in a space previously occupied by the City of Cheyenne. The new facility is directly adjacent to Nortrak’s existing 50,000-square-foot plant built in southern Cheyenne in 1997, where the company manufactures railway trackwork products.

With the addition of this facility, employment in the company’s Cheyenne facilities has grown from less than 100 at the end of 1999 to more than 150 at the present time. Nortrak’s new facility provides employment for specialized welders, machinists and machine operators, where welders finish the plates produced by the new CNC (computer numerically controlled) equipment. The process produces finished plates considerably faster than Nortrak’s previous method. Therefore, it allows the company to supply its plants in Birmingham, Ala., and Richmond (Vancouver) Canada, with plates made in the state-of-the-art Cheyenne facility.

"With this new manufacturing facility in place, we are able to be more efficient and cost-effective when serving our customers," said Garry Brodziak, General Manager of Nortrak Cheyenne. Customers include Union Pacific Railroad, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and Canadian National Railway Company.

Lease agreement negotiations between Nortrak and the City of Cheyenne began late last year, and were facilitated by Cheyenne LEADS, the local economic development corporation. "This agreement resulted in a ‘win-win’ situation for all entities," said Cheyenne Mayor Leo Pando. "The space, which was previously underutilized by the City for storage, now generates annual cash income to the City while creating about 50 new jobs."

"We are very pleased with the cooperation from all of the city officials who worked on this project," said Al Tuningley, President of Nortrak. "This partnership signifies Nortrak’s commitment to the community and furthermore, is a major investment in this community."

Nortrak Cheyenne has rapidly grown since its inception three years ago. With the new plate shop, the Cheyenne plant will have almost 10 times its original workforce. Due to the complexity of the plate work, Nortrak implemented a specialized training program in January for welders, machinists and machine operators with assistance from Front Range Community College in Fort Collins, Colo. Additionally, the new facility houses a specialized training classroom.

VAE Nortrak Cheyenne Inc. is a subsidiary of VAE Nortrak North America Inc., owned by Tuningley Holdings Ltd., of British Columbia and VAE Aktiengesellschaft, of Austria. The Austrian VAE group is the largest manufacturer of trackwork in the free enterprise world with more than 125 years of experience. In addition to the Cheyenne facility, VAE’s North America operations has manufacturing plants in Birmingham, Ala., and Richmond (Vancouver) Canada, as well as numerous sales offices throughout North America. VAE factories are also located in Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, South Africa and Spain.


Nortrak's History

VAE Nortrak Cheyenne Inc., a Wyoming corporation created four years ago, constructed the original $4 million facility in southwest Cheyenne. Al Tuningley, President of VAE Nortrak Cheyenne Inc., said; "VAE undertook a very stringent, detailed evaluation of six potential site locations. We clearly identified Cheyenne, Wyoming, as the best city for the VAE group. Our goal is to gain additional market share and serve our customers better. We'll accomplish that with our Cheyenne facility." He added, "Choosing the right site has been very intense. LEADS does a fantastic job in easing the process. The City of Cheyenne responded very positively to our needs and helped seal the deal."

The facility manufactures railway trackwork products including railway switches and specialty devices used to divert traffic between tracks. The Cheyenne workforce includes welders, machinists, fitters, laborers, supervisors and office staff. LEADS President Jack Crews said, "Nortrak's presence in Cheyenne meets LEADS' goal of diversifying our economy." He noted that only 3.4 percent of Laramie County's employment sector falls in the manufacturing arena. "We target clean manufacturing firms for recruitment because those careers typically pay very well. Manufacturing offers tremendous spin-off benefits bringing new money into our local economy. This is a win-win situation for the entire community," he said. Each 40 new manufacturing jobs creates 25 additional support jobs within a community. Expansion plans call for the facility to grow to 125,000 square feet.

Crews noted that all LEADS member contractors were invited to bid on the project. Gorden Deisch of Regency Construction and Noel Griffith of Noel Griffith Architects were awarded the bid. The manufacturing facility in Cheyenne serves railroads like Union Pacific and Southern Pacific with trackwork products. Trackwork manufacturing involves machining of castings, steel rails and steel flat bar. Employees then fit the components with bolts and fasteners into assemblies. The operation is similar to a heavy fabrication or machining shop. The raw materials are both heavy and long. Rails weigh between 30 and 50 pounds per foot and pieces manufactured frequently are up to 130 feet long. Nortrak ships the manufactured product out normally by railcar, or in some cases, by truck. The Cheyenne facility focuses on assembly and machining of rails.

The company has patented exclusive technology in the manufacture of highly sophisticated and improved technology to produce materials that last longer and operate more smoothly. The trend toward increased rail freight usage forces the private rail companies to lay new stretches of track to keep their market shares and increase profitability. The Nortrak products meet the railroads' requirement for higher speed range, higher load tolerance and longer stability under load.