DENVER – Alpenglow Rail, a Denver-based firm specializing in investment, operating, and growing rail businesses, in partnership with Connor, Clark & Lunn Infrastructure, will acquire Orange Rail Inc. from LJA Investments, Inc. Orange Rail is a newly constructed rail terminal in Orange, Texas, with access to Union Pacific and BNSF Railway. Orange Rail consists of a […]
Type of Train: Short line regionals
New Jersey short line to take over local service on NJ Transit branches
WASHINGTON — Cape May Seashore Lines will replace Conrail as the local freight service provider on 31.68 miles of New Jersey Transit trackage in southern New Jersey on or after Dec. 31, according to a regulatory filing. CMSL will gain trackage rights over NJ Transit’s Cape May Branch between milepost 27.02 at Winslow Junction, N.J., […]
Clearing Yard in Chicago as of 2016
Introduction to Clearing Yard in Chicago Clearing Yard in Chicago often operates at 1.8 mph, slower than the speed at which an average adult walks. Compound that brutally slow pace with the idea that this same portion of railroad connects six of the seven Class I carriers, and you soon get the feeling somebody has […]
Australian infrastructure fund to acquire RailUSA
WASHINGTON — A global infrastructure fund based in Australia will acquire RailUSA, the holding company that operates the 430-mile Florida Gulf & Atlantic and the 228-mile Grenada Railroad in Mississippi. Macquarie Infrastructure Partners reached a purchase agreement with RailUSA on Nov. 23, according to a regulatory filing with the Surface Transportation Board last week. The […]
Train crew shortage spreads to short lines
NEW YORK — Train crew shortages that have affected service on Class I railroads this year also have cropped up on short lines, as rail workers seek greener pastures and new hires are hard to find. Genesee & Wyoming, the largest shortline holding company, saw the number of employees leaving the railroad double in the third […]
Ohio short line gets funding for rail project
DEFIANCE, Ohio – The Ohio Rail Development Commission has approved a grant of up to $687,622.50 to replace rail on a portion of Pioneer Lines Napoleon Defiance & Western Railway’s line east of Defiance, Ohio. NDW’s line runs from Woodburn, Ind., to Napoleon, Ohio, with interchanges with Norfolk Southern in Woodburn and CSX in Defiance. […]
Jaguar Transport to operate Oklahoma Central Rail Park
EL RENO, Okla. — Jaguar Transport Holdings has entered into an agreement with Haskell Lemon Construction to operate the Oklahoma Central Rail Park in El Reno, Okla. The 200-acre facility just west of Oklahoma City will be fully operational on Jan. 1, 2022. Less than 2 miles from I-40, the Rail Park connects with the Union Pacific Railroad and […]
FRA’s Bose tells short lines to make case on crew size
PHOENIX — Amit Bose, the Federal Railroad Administration’s Deputy Administrator, covered a great deal of ground in his keynote address Thursday to the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association. Only once, however, did he display a degree of agitation about his subject matter: when discussing a forthcoming rule proposal on train crew size. The […]
Regional Rail to operate Port Manatee Railroad
PALMETTO, Fla. — Pennsylvania-based Regional Rail LLC has signed an agreement to operate the short line at Port Manatee in Palmetto, Fla. The agreement runs through at least 2036 with options through 2051. The railroad, which began operation in 1970, includes more than 7 miles of track with a connection to CSX Transportation. It has […]
Anacostia Rail Holdings creates advisory board
CHICAGO — Anacostia Rail Holdings, operator of railroads including Pacific Harbor Line, New York & Atlantic, and the Chicago South Shore & South Bend, has created an advisory board to assist the company in developing and achieving strategic objectives. Members of the board will be: — Ronald Batory, former president of the Belt Railway of […]
Bruce Sterzing, legendary D&H president, dies at 88
Of all the colorful stories that emerged in the 1970s from the tangle of Northeast railroading after Penn Central’s 1970 bankruptcy, perhaps none is more intriguing than the Delaware & Hudson’s battle to maintain its independence, a fight led by its president, Carl B. “Bruce” Sterzing Jr. A lawyer by training, Sterzing became president of […]
CN, Watco ask STB to unfreeze Wisconsin, Michigan branch line sales before winter (updated)
WASHINGTON – Canadian National and Watco have urged the Surface Transportation Board to lift the hold it placed on the transfer of nearly 500 miles of former Wisconsin Central branch lines. Watco, in a filing on Tuesday, told the board that it has been preparing to launch service on the routes in Wisconsin and the neighboring […]
