Railroad re-opening to haul frac sand - WXOW News 19 La Crosse, WI – News, Weather and Sports |

EAU CLAIRE, Wisconsin (WQOW) - A northern Wisconsin railroad is about to come out of retirement to help transport frac sand. Barron County says Canadian National Railways is spending $35 million to repair a line between Barron and Ladysmith that hasn't been used for 12 years. Canadian National and Superior Silica Sands will work together on the project. The company talked about its hiring plans on Monday.

CEO of Superior Silica Sands, Rick Shearer says, "We are hiring strictly local. Even our construction contractor here, Market and Johnson, is from Eau Claire. We are going out of our way to make sure we hire local contractors and local employees."

Canadian National says it hopes to have the railroad up and operating by November.