Farmrail sells interest in Marquette Rail to RailAmerica
July 3, 2012 / Updated August 29, 2012
Short Line Railroads
Farmrail recently sold its interest in Marquette Rail to RailAmerica. – Courtesy Ron Roman
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 major Eastern trunk lines make Marquette a preferred source for box car, hopper and tank storage accessible to the upper Mid-West. All car types are routinely received and delivered on short notice, and inspection, running repairs and testing services can be provided upon request.
In other Farmrail news, the Federal Railroad Administration issued in June a temporary waiver allowing Farmrail movements of 10-car blocks of crude oil and up to 20 empties over excepted FMRC track between Sayre and Elk City, OK.
A group of rail advocates led by John Robert Smith and Transportation for America would not take no for an answer while trying to return Amtrak passenger service along the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina's devastation. Transportation for America guided the Southern Rail Commission through 20 years of muck, mud and political jambalaya to re-energize a route from New Orleans, LA, to Mobile, AL. In just seven months after its August 2025 launch the train posted 100,000 boardings — shattering Amtrak’s original target of 42,000 annual riders. Ridership topped 18,000 the first month, and by the second had eclipsed Amtrak’s estimate.
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