Davenport Industrial Railroad begins operations NEWSWIRE

Davenport Industrial Railroad, a 2.8-mile short line that connects the main line of the Dakota, Minnesota, & Eastern Railroad, a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Railway, near Davenport, Iowa, with the city-owned Davenport Transload Facility, began operations on Jan. 1, 2020.  The city of Davenport announced that the Davenport Industrial Railroad, LLC would be the operator of the railroad and transload facility, on Nov. 25, 2019.  The facility in the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center in northwest Davenport is designed to transfer goods and materials from trucks off the highway to railcars on the track and vice versa.

Northern Illinois & Wisconsin Railway Corp. (NIWX), Rail Holdings Inc., and S.E. Berish Enterprises, LLC own Davenport Industrial Railroad. “We are extremely pleased that the city has chosen Davenport Industrial Railroad as the operator of its switching railroad and transload center,” says John Howell, NIWX president, “and all of us look forward to working with both the city and with customers in the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center and surrounding Scott County to increase the use of freight rail in the area.”  NIWX is a locomotive leasing firm headquartered in Edinboro, Pa., and also provides expertise in short line operations. 

Rail Holdings Inc. is the parent company of the Clinton Terminal Railroad in North Carolina and the Elizabethtown Industrial Railroad in Pennsylvania. Formed in 2003, RHI has also operated other contract rail lines in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and leases locomotives and freight cars to other carriers and companies.  S.E. Berish Enterprises is a new shortline holding company based in Cleveland, Ohio.

“We are very excited to have a new experienced team of rail operators ready to hit the ground running on our recently improved short line,” says Susanne Knutsen, Davenport’s economic development manager.