A company led by Vertex Rail CEO Don Croteau filed for bankruptcy earlier this month in Massachusetts.

Vertex Fab & Design LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection May 5, according to a filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Massachusetts, nearly six months after Croteau, along with Gov. Pat McCrory and local officials, announced that Vertex Rail would be bringing 1,300 jobs to Wilmington for a new rail car manufacturing business.

Croteau said Thursday afternoon that Vertex Fab & Design and Vertex Rail are separate entities with no ties. He said he had assumed the role of managing director hoping to turn around the prospects for Vertex Fab & Design.

“It ultimately was not successful, and I was just unable to save it," he said. “The market was quite a bit smaller than what we’re doing now on the rail side."

In the Vertex Fab & Design bankruptcy filing, the estimated number of creditors falls within the 100-199 range, the court documents showed, with estimated assets listed as $100,001-$500,000 and estimated liabilities in the category of about $1 million-$10 million.

Croteau, listed as a managing member, signed the petition.

In an interview published in December, Croteau said Vertex Fab & Design, also referred to as Vertex FD, specialized in the fabrication and design of components for companies like NASA and GE Hitachi Nuclear. Croteau said he amassed $1 million in personal debt in his efforts to save and support Vertex Fab & Design.

He said Vertex Fab & Design's troubles won't affect his new Wilmington company. Seven or eight of Vetrtex Fab & Design's former employees now work for Vertex Rail, Croteau said Thursday. In addition, the firm has hired seven to eight people from the Wilmington area in the areas of human resources, general management and engineering, and hiring is continuing, he said.

In the latest timeline for Vertex Rail, which Croteau shared Thursday, sample hopper cars could be coming out of the facility at 202 Raleigh St. in Wilmington before the end of this summer, and a required federal certification the company needs is scheduled to be done in August. He said the federal certification necessary for tank car production at the Raleigh Street plant has been scheduled for the fall, in late September or early October. 

The facility is being outfitted to ship 10 tank cars per shift, per day, and six hopper cars per shift, per day, Croteau said.

Editor Vicky Janowski contributed to this article.