MONTE VISTA, Colo. — Sale of the San Luis Central Railroad, the 13-mile Colorado short line in the state’s San Luis Valley, is expected to close today (Oct. 1), Ed Burkhardt of Rail World Inc. has told News Wire contributor Russell Sharp.
The Soloviev Group, owner of the connecting Colorado Pacific Rio Grande Railroad, filed plans to purchase the San Luis Central with the Surface Transportation Board in August [see “Agricultural magnate to acquire Colorado short line …,” Trains News Wire, Sept. 3, 2024].
“I’m sad in a way, happy in others,” Burkhardt, who has spent 57 years as a rail executive, told Sharp. “It’s time to move on.”
Stefan Soloviev, who controls the 150-mile Colorado Pacific Rio Grande and the 120-mile Colorado Pacific in eastern Colorado and western Kansas, has more than 350,000 acres of land holdings in the west, including cropland in Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico. His companies also own grain elevators in Colorado and Kansas.
The San Luis Central, embargoed since late May because of a washout at an irrigation canal on its main line, resumed operation in early September after the repairs at the washout site were completed [see “Colorado’s San Luis Central reopens line,” News Wire, Sept. 12, 2024].
