Category: Short Line Railroads

Oklahoma-based Farmrail and the six other owners sold their interests in Marquette Rail to RailAmerica in May. RailAmerica, which owns and operates 45 short-line and regional freight railroads in North America and Canada, reportedly paid $40 million for MQT. MQT serves West Michigan and operates approximately 126 miles of railroad. The primary rail route extends from connections with CSX and Norfolk Southern/Grand Elk at Grand Rapids northward to Ludington and Manistee. These lines, formerly part of the Pere Marquette Railroad network that covered most of the state’s Lower Peninsula, have been in continuous operation since 1874. Marquette Rail serves about two dozen online customers in six West Michigan counties, transporting chemicals, paperboard, grain, salt, petroleum products and other commodities. Marquette Rail also serves as a storage agent for fleet owners requiring convenient accommodations for seasonally inactive or off-lease rolling stock. Capacity is in excess of 500 railcars. Connections with both…

In May, “wagon” loads of grain are expected to be brimming Down Under on trains operated by Pittsburg, KS-based Watco Companies for CBH Group of Western Australia. Trains are moving ahead of schedule and should be in full force once more equipment arrives. CBH, a farmer-owned cooperative established in 1933, awarded Watco a 10-year grain rail contract in late 2010. Watco is providing logistics, which includes operations and scheduling, tracing, and railcar and locomotive maintenance and inventory control. In February, 50 of 574 new wagons or cars being produced arrived in Western Australia and went into action sooner than expected. On March 30, Watco ran the first train from Merredan to Kwinana Terminal. The train consisted of 50 wagons hauling more than 35 tons of wheat. “Given the record harvest just gone and the need to get better performance from rail to meet our export task, we pushed hard to…

Patriot Rail Corp. was busy in the final months of 2011 in Louisiana and Arkansas. The short line and regional freight railroad holding company based in Boca Raton, FL, signed a rail car service agreement and added new frac sand business. The company owns and operates 12 short line freight railroads comprising approximately 500 rail miles in 12 states. In November, Patriot Rails’ Louisiana and North West Railroad (LNW) signed a five-year agreement with Pro Sands Processing, LLC, a frac sand supply, storage and delivery company serving the oil and gas industry. Pro Sands will lease 10 acres at LNW’s new Iron Ridge Road transload facility in Gibsland, LA. LNW will deliver freight carloads of frac sand to Pro Sands there, and the product will be dried, processed and transloaded to truck for delivery throughout the region. Transportation companies in need of assistance from accounting, auditing, tax, and consulting services…