The announcement that National Alabama would be constructing a railcar plant in Barton came a little over one year ago on July 18, 2007 and the progress is continuing at an impressive pace. The structure now stretches 4000 feet in length and is 2.2 million square feet with much of the sides and the roof already completed. National Alabama and their parent company National Steel Car Corporation, which began in 1912 , has an excellent record of meeting goals and there is little doubt they will reach their goal here of rolling the first railcar off the assembly line by early 2009. They are expecting to hire 150 workers by September and building to over 1400 employees by 2010. The economic impact on the area will be evident with jobs available at a competitive hourly rate of $14 on average. In addition, at the height of the project, up to 1,200 construction workers will be on site. Many of those workers are already in the Shoals and positively impacting the local economies. Northwest Shoals president Dr. Humphrey Lee said that welding and robotics courses at Northwest Shoals Community College are already full with more people on waiting lists.Governor Bob Riley praised the progress on the project since the groundbreaking in November.