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' 4-2314 FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY Work Projects Administration Washington, D. C. ~ ----- ,L, For Release Wednesday, May 6, 1942 I WPA SALVAGES 6,600 TONS OF STREETCAR RAILS IN :MONTH; NEW PLAN EXPECTED TO BOOST RATE I'1ore than 6,600 tons of abandoned streetcar :rails, containing scrap steel equivalent to the amount required for four modern destroye rs rJ r 325 medium ta~ks, were removed from city streets by WPA workers durin~ ~arch, F. H. Dryden, Acting Commissioner of Work Projects, said today . He noted that HPA has been removing old streetcar rails throughout its prograrn--in growing amounts since last fall--and announced a new arrangement with the War Production Board which is expected to increase the ro.te still further . I, The plan involves adaptation of the nation-wide WPA salvace collection project, sponsored by the WPB's Bureau of Industrial Conservation, to rail removal from city streets. Car rails are considered an important type of steel scrap because they can be formed easily into other articles . Rails must be publicly-owned and not subject to franchis e obligations on the part of a transit company to be eligible for removal by the WPA . It is possible, under WPB sponsorship, for WPA workers to extract track where t i tle is acquired by the WPB or other public agency designated by it, local covernments give permission for the removal, and r esurfacing of the track strip is limited to t emporary r epairs. Removal of abandoned streetcar rails for their vitally-needed steel is being facilitated by various other means. Recognizing that the value of steel is no longer measured alono in monetary- t Grms , the WPA will now accept certain "marginal" projects in which the cost of removal was not previously considered to be justified by the value of the salvaged rails. • The War Department has certifi ed scrap collection, includinc rail r emoval , as of military importance, thus permitting the WPA to expedite the work on the same basis as other defens e proj ects. Several WPA employees have been assigned to each fi eld office of th e Bureau of Industrial Conservation to assist in developing salvage projects of any sort in which the WPA may participate • Mr . Dryden emphasiz ed that regular locally-sponsored street projects will continue to be us ed for the r emoval of abandoned streetc ar rails whenever they are suitable. Under these proj ects , the local government must submit a certificate that the rails are publicly-owned , The salvage is shipped to ass Gmbly points, furnac es or mills designated by the WPB, and the sponsor r eceives the proceeds to apply toward the cost of the proj ect. oOo Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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