August 3, 2024 - TRA Newswire -
Tucked away in the fields off of U.S. 79 just west of the Central Texas city of Taylor, a massive freight rail park continues to expand its footprint as the region continues an insatiable demand for shipments in and finished products out.
In the latest announcement, electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla has announced that it's expanding its Austin area operations with a 180,000 square foot rail-served industrial space in the RCR Taylor Logistics Park.
Tesla has been shipping cars out of the sprawling rail park for more than a year, but now the company is taking up warehouse space there just 30 miles from its east Travis County gigafactory. In addition, South Korean chemical company Soulbrain Holdings Co. Ltd. updated its development at RCR, a move that will add significantly to Taylor’s sales tax and property tax revenue.
It is unknown exactly what Tesla, the electric vehicle company run by the world’s wealthiest person Elon Musk, will do with the 183,000-square-foot leased building along the rail siding. It adds to Tesla’s area holdings, that include facilities in Kyle and Hutto in addition to the 10-million-square-foot gigafactory on toll road Texas 130.
“Tesla holds everything pretty tight to the vest,” said Williamson County Economic Development Partnership CEO Dave Porter. Informed speculation is that Tesla could use the space to receive materials and parts for EV production at the nearby gigafactory.
The other big win for the rail yard and Taylor was revealed in city proceedings that announced Samsung supplier Soulbrain will make a larger investment in the city than previously known.
The Taylor city council recently approved tax incentives for Soulbrain to build a $575 million phosphoric acid manufacturing plant at the RCR rail facility. The chemicals are a key component to manufacturing the advanced semiconductors that will be produced at the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. foundry now under construction.
Fort Worth based Short Line operator Rio Grande Pacific Industrial Rail Services runs the rail park operations for RCR Taylor which has Class I Dual Service from BNSF and UP. This dual-service capability allows access to an extensive rail network that spans across the nation.
The 755-acre RCR rail logistics park started coming together in 2018, long before Taylor was known as a possible Samsung Austin Semiconductor expansion site for an advanced manufacturing foundry. Owner McAlister Assets built its own rail spur and intermodal rail yard at U.S. 79 and FM 3349 with access to the Missouri Pacific line.
“It’s a big win for the rail park,” Porter said of the recent developments. With Soulbrain the takeaway is “that at the end of the day, they took more property than what they were going to. It’s a great win for Taylor that happened because Samsung needed them nearby.”
Photo credit: RCR Rail
