The Wilmington facility where Vertex Railcar Corp. plans to make rail cars could be certified in October by the Association of American Railroads if the new company's preparations there meet AAR standards, a Vertex spokesman said this week.

That would mean the certification, a necessary step before Vertex can proceed, would come about 10 months after state and local government representatives and the company's CEO Donald Croteau announced that Vertex planned to bring 1,300 jobs to Wilmington and invest millions to tap a growing market for new, safer rail cars.

"Vertex has been working diligently to upfit its facility to meet Association of American Railroads facility regulations," said Foster Sayers III, general counsel and government liaison for Vertex, in an email Monday. "We've successfully completed our first hiring wave, including the workers that are needed to build the first cars that will allow us to receive Association of American Railroads facility certification."

In a response to a subsequent email Friday asking for an updated employee number, Sayers said, "Vertex is hoping to hire approximately 100-150 during the first shift hiring wave. This first shift will be in place in the next several weeks in anticipation of October certification."

Sayers said for the first shift, the company will mostly need welders.

Vertex, which occupies the former Terex crane manufacturing facility at 202 Raleigh St. in Wilmington, is hosting private tours Aug. 25 "for key members of the community, including elected officials," said Anna-Marshall Wilson, a public relations account supervisor for communications agency Eckel & Vaughan and a member of Vertex's media team, in an email.

The company is also planning a media day for some time in the future, Wilson said.