Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad summary
The Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad (BIP) is a Class III short line railroad that operates along the Ohio River in southeastern Ohio. It’s owned by Cathcart Rail, that was founded in 2015 by Casey Cathcart along with his father, Thomas. The railroad uses 48 miles of standard-gauge track out of two historic segments. The first being the former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad’s Philadelphia-St. Louis main line that crosses the Ohio River at Parkersburg, West Virginia. The second is a branch line from Belpre, north to Relief, Ohio, where it was once part of the Mariette Line that joined the main line from Wheeling, W.Va., to Columbus, Ohio.
History
Parkersburg’s Highland Yard was once the heart of the B&O’s operations in the region, serving the Monongah Division to the east and the Ohio Division to the west. By 1981, passenger service under Amtrak ended followed by a slow decline in freight. With the Ohio Division main line to St. Louis closed to through traffic in 1985, rail removal commenced with only the section from Parkersburg to Little Hocking, Ohio remaining intact. The Marietta line of the Monongah Division experienced a wash out in the early 1970s, cutting the railroad off at Relief. The B&O’s successor, CSX Transportation strived to breathe new life into the rebuilt Mariette Subdivision. A 20-year contract was signed in 1994 to ship coal to an American Electric Power plant in Relief. Service ended in April 2015 when the plant shut down, and traffic dwindled.
When CSX put the Marietta Subdivision on the block in June 2018, Cathcart saw potential in the line’s location, customer base and business through the growing plastic, petrochemical and metal industries. The successful acquisition not only led to the Mariette Sub, but also the addition of the Parkersburg High Yard and tracks west of Belpre to Kraton, Ohio. On May 2, 2020, operations started as the Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad.
Operations
The Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad’s main businesses are aggregates, coal, asphalt, plastics, chemicals, metals, and carbon black. Most of the customers are on the Marietta line between Belpre and Marietta producing carbon black, steel, and asphalt. The primary customer on the ex-B&O Ohio Division through Belpre westbound is Kraton Polymers at the end of the line. Cathcart Rail’s Bucyrus Railcar Repair and Utica Tank Cleaning both operate within the Parkersburg High Yard. Together, they offer customers a complete rail-service package.
EMD GP38-3 diesel locomotives make up the roster throughout the BIP system. Three of the units arrived a week before the railroad’s initial startup, followed by a fourth later in the summer.
Interchange to CSX’s Ohio River Subdivision takes place on the Transfer Track in Parkersburg. It’s where CSX’s Low Yard connects with the Belpre Industrial Parkersburg’s High Yard. While the Class I railroad retains ownership of the Transfer Track, the short line has trackage rights to the Low Yard.
Read more about the Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad in Trains’ April 2021 issue.
