A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are categorized by operating revenue, and most shortline railroads fall into the Class III or Class II categorization defined by the Surface Transportation Board .
24-572: The East Carolina Railway was a short-line railroad that ran from 1898 to 1965. Originating in Tarboro, North Carolina the East Carolina Railway interchanged at Farmville, North Carolina with the original Norfolk Southern Railway . The East Carolina Railway was incorporated in Tarboro in 1898, organized and initially presided over by Henry Clark Bridgers, Sr., nephew of Robert Rufus Bridgers who
48-416: A Class III is a railroad with an annual operating revenue of less than $ 28 million. In Canada , Transport Canada classifies shortline railroads as Class II . There are three kinds of shortlines in the U.S.: handling, switch, and ISS (Interline Settlement System). It was reported in 2009 that shortline railroads employ 20,000 people in the U.S., and own 30 percent of the nation's railroad tracks. About
72-451: A bankruptcy in 1899. At that time, the railroad was operating as a 14.5-mile long (23.3 km) single-track line serving a single customer, a salt mine owned by Fuller in Retsof, New York . It was still operating the same line for the salt mine when Mortimer B. Fuller III, great-grandson of Edward L. Fuller, purchased the railroad in 1977. The holding company, Genesee & Wyoming Railroad Inc.,
96-440: A quarter of all U.S. rail freight travels at least a small part of its journey over a short-line railroad. An ever-growing number of shortline operators have been acquired by larger holding companies which own or lease railroad properties in many states, as well as internationally. For example, Genesee & Wyoming controls over 100 railroads in over 40 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces. A consequence of such consolidation
120-1121: Is that shortline railroads may no longer be "by state". Genesee %26 Wyoming Genesee & Wyoming Inc. ( G&W ) is an American short line railroad holding company , that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom; and formerly in Australia. The company grew from the Class III Genesee and Wyoming Railroad , founded in 1899. As of 2011, it operates more than 13,000 miles (21,000 km) of owned and leased track. As of 2021, G&W owns or leases 116 freight railroads organized in locally managed operating regions with 7,300 employees serving 3,000 customers. G&W's four North American regions serve 42 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces and include 113 short line and regional freight railroads with more than 13,000 track-miles. Its UK/Europe region includes
144-554: The Asia Pacific Transport Consortium , and the operational rolling stock of FreightLink . This 1,400 miles (2,300 km) rail line was the longest the company has leased. On August 2, 2011, Genesee & Wyoming announced that it planned to purchase the Arizona Eastern Railway from Iowa Pacific Holdings for US$ 90.1 million, with the deal expected to be completed by the end of the year. The deal
168-692: The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission , G&W's 51% shareholding in Genesee & Wyoming Australia was sold separately to PGMM and the business renamed to One Rail Australia . Genesee & Wyoming Inc. owns controlling interests in 122 freight railroads, either directly or through subsidiaries, which are organized into local operating regions. These subsidiaries include Rail Link, Inc. (1996), Genesee & Wyoming Canada, Inc. (1997), Emons Railroad Group (2002), CAGY Industries (2008), and Summit View, Inc. (2008). In 2005, G&W acquired
192-529: The Carolina Coastal Railway , operated by G&W subsidiary Rail Link, Inc., was sold to Main Line Rail Management, Inc. On May 26, 2005, G&W announced that it has agreed to purchase the railroad operations of Rail Management Corporation (RMC). G&W paid US$ 243 million in cash and assume $ 1.7 million in company debt to gain control of 14 short line railroads from RMC across
216-529: The Freightliner Group , as well as regional rail services in continental Europe. G&W subsidiaries and joint ventures also provide rail service at more than 30 major ports, rail-ferry service between the U.S. Southeast and Mexico, transload services, and industrial railcar switching and repair. The Genesee and Wyoming Railroad was the flagship predecessor to the G&W; Edward L. Fuller purchased it out of
240-615: The Heart of Georgia Railroad , subject to regulatory approval. In May 2017, Genesee & Wyoming completed the purchase of Pentalver Transport Limited, a British container transport and terminal operator. In July 2019, affiliates of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and GIC announced they had agreed terms to purchase Genesee & Wyoming for $ 8.4 billion. The deal was closed in December 2019. Because Brookfield already has other rail assets in Australia that would likely lead to objections from
264-635: The South Australian freight operations of Australian National and rebranded the operation Australian Southern Railroad . In October 2000 Australian Railroad Group , a 50/50 joint venture between Genesee & Wyoming and Wesfarmers , were the successful bidder for the Westrail freight business in Western Australia . As part of the joint venture agreement, ownership of Australian Southern Railroad passed to Australian Railroad Group. In July 2003,
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#1732852255095288-744: The August 1904 edition of the "Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico [sic], Canada, Mexico and Cuba" showed the departure of a train from Tarboro at 9:40 a.m. Eastern time, arriving at Farmville, 26 miles away, at 11:25 a.m. on Monday-Tuesday, and Thursday-Friday. On Wednesday and Saturday, the departure was at 3:35 p.m. with arrival at 5:50 p.m. Return trips departed at 6:45 a.m. Monday-Tuesday, Thursday-Friday, with arrival at 9:05 a.m., and at 12:30 p.m., arriving 2:30 p.m., on Wednesday and Saturday. No service ran on Sunday. Around 1913,
312-589: The East Carolina Railroad acquired seven single-truck streetcars, two closed motor (nos. 531 and 563) and five closed trailers (1514, 1521, 1526, 1552, and 1554) after they were retired by the Capital Traction Company in Washington, D.C. They were rebuilt in the Tarboro shops as gasoline-powered motor cars for passenger use, and saw about 17 years of service. The last steam operation on the line
336-459: The U.S. and 1990 in Canada, many shortlines have been established when larger railroad companies sold off or abandoned low-profit portions of their trackage. Shortline operators typically have lower labor, overhead and regulatory costs than Class I railroads and therefore are often able to operate profitable lines that lost money for their original owners. Shortlines generally exist for one or more of
360-524: The following reasons: In France, the equivalent of shortlines railroads are the opérateurs ferroviaires de proximité (local railways operators). Because of their small size and generally low revenues, the great majority of shortline railroads in the U.S. are classified by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) as Class III . As defined by the Surface Transportation Board (STB),
384-663: The shares of Freightliner Group . On August 15, 2016, Genesee & Wyoming announced that intended to acquire the Providence & Worcester Railroad , which operates in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York, for $ 126 million. The deal was approved by Providence & Worcester shareholders in October, and the Surface Transportation Board approved the acquisition in December. On February 7, 2017, Genesee & Wyoming announced that it had reached an agreement to purchase
408-641: The southeastern United States, as of June 1, 2005. As of the close of 2005, Genesee & Wyoming had 2,330 employees in North America. That year, Hurricane Stan wiped out several miles of Genesee & Wyoming track in Mexico. In 2006, the Mexican government agreed to pay 75 percent of the rebuilding costs, or $ 15 million, to reconstruct the track. In June 2006 the Australian Railroad Group joint venture
432-628: The value of its Bolivian operation, on fears that the Bolivian government would soon nationalize privately held railroads there. Genesee & Wyoming remains an investor in Empresa Ferroviaria Oriental , S.A. In June 2010 Genesee & Wyoming, through a subsidiary holding company, paid A$ 334 million to acquire the operational rights to and the leasehold of the Tarcoola to Darwin Railway from
456-656: Was acquired by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL) in 1935, but continued to be locally managed by Henry Clark Bridgers until his death in 1951. The railway continued to be operated under the East Carolina Railway name until the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad abandoned the line in 1965. The last train ran on 16 November 1965. In 1960, East Carolina reported 1.1 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and no passengers on its 29-mile railroad. The operating schedule as of 10 November 1903, according to
480-609: Was broken up with the Western Australian above rail operation sold to QR National and the below rail infrastructure to Babcock & Brown in a US$ 974 million ( A$ 1.55 billion) deal. At the same time Wesfarmers sold its 50% share in the South Australian operation back to Genesee & Wyoming Inc for $ 15 million (A$ 22 million). The operation was rebranded Genesee & Wyoming Australia . Also in 2006, Genesee & Wyoming elected to write off most of
504-656: Was by ACL Baldwin Locomotive 4-6-0, No. 1031, in April 1957, now on display at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer, N.C. Short-line railroad At the beginning of the railroad age, nearly all railway lines were shortlines, locally chartered, financed and operated; as the railroad industry matured, local lines were merged or acquired to create longer mainline railroads. Especially since 1980 in
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#1732852255095528-415: Was closed on 1 September 2011. On July 23, 2012, Genesee & Wyoming agreed to purchase RailAmerica (RA), the short-line railroad holding company controlled by Fortress Investment Group (FIG), for $ 1.39 billion to combine North America's two largest short-line and regional rail operators. On February 24, 2015, Genesee & Wyoming announced that it has agreed to acquire approximately 95% of
552-510: Was organized during the same year, and the railroad became its subsidiary. With deregulation of the rail industry by the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, railroads began disposing of unprofitable routes. Genesee & Wyoming acquired several of these short line railroads, scattered across the United States, from 1985 to 1996. Its acquisitions began including railroads in other countries in 1997. In November 1997 Genesee & Wyoming purchased
576-523: Was president of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad . Constructed using prison labor from Raleigh, the tracks reached Pinetops, North Carolina by July 1900, Macclesfield, North Carolina by September 1900, and in 1901 it extended all the way to Farmville. In 1908, the line was extended 12 miles to Hookerton, North Carolina . This segment was abandoned in 1933 during the Great Depression . The railroad
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