The Jasper County Board of Supervisors and Iowa Interstate Railroad President and CEO Joe Parsons will officially launch Newton Rail Park next Wednesday. The current 367-acre industrial park created around Iowa Interstate Railroad’s Newton Railyard has already attracted interest from several potential businesses according to Jasper County Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Jeff Davidson. He says the benefit of what started out being called Jasper Rail Park, will be shovel ready development sites with convenient railway access.

“The thing we are trying to accomplish more than anything else is speed to market. We are not competitive to where we need to be right now. We need to have faster speed to market because the longer a potential development prospect’s money is tied up, and nothing is happening with that money, they are going to go somewhere else where they can get in the ground faster.”

Jasper County and Iowa Interstate Railroad provided the financing for the acquisition of the additional land needed for the industrial park. The economic development potential for the industrial park along with site details are expected to be shared by project leaders at Wednesday’s 10 a.m. official launch in the rotunda of the Jasper County Courthouse in Newton.