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21-685: Within Wisconsin, WSOR connects with four western Class I railroads : BNSF Railway , Canadian National Railway , Canadian Pacific Railway , and Union Pacific Railroad . Through trackage rights over Metra , WSOR accesses Chicago to connect with the two eastern Class I railroads, CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway . WSOR also has access to harbor facilities in Prairie du Chien , and transload facilities are located in Milwaukee , Janesville , Madison , and Oshkosh . For train operation purposes,

42-747: A duopoly over all transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western United States, while CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway operate most of the trackage in the Eastern United States, with the Mississippi River being the rough dividing line. Canadian National Railway (via its subsidiary Grand Trunk Corporation ) operates north–south lines near the Mississippi River. Canadian Pacific Kansas City , doing business as CPKC, runs from southern Canada, then goes south through

63-639: A terminal railroad in Madison called the Madison Terminal Railway from 2010 to 2015 to service a transloading facility in Madison WI. This spur was less than a half mile long. Class I railroad Railroad classes are the system by which freight railroads are designated in the United States . Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by

84-705: A 50-year agreement with the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad, organized by the FSC Corporation, which also owned the Upper Merion and Plymouth Railroad. In August 1992, WSOR gained control of the Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad , which had been created in 1985 to replace the Chicago, Madison and Northern Railroad's operations on state-owned lines formerly part of the Milwaukee Road and Illinois Central Gulf Railroad . The latter

105-476: A company that has earned gross revenues exceeding $ 250 million (CAD) for each of the previous two years. Class I railroads are the largest rail carriers in the United States. In 1900, there were 132 Class I railroads, but as the result of mergers and bankruptcies, the industry has consolidated and as of April 2023 , just six Class I freight railroads remain. BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad have

126-538: A quarterly or annual schedule. In 1925, the ICC reported 174 Class I railroads, 282 Class II railroads, and 348 Class III railroads. The $ 1 million criterion established in 1911 for a Class I railroad was used until January 1, 1956, when the figure was increased to $ 3 million. In 1956, the ICC counted 113 Class I line-haul operating railroads (excluding "3 class I companies in systems") and 309 Class II railroads (excluding "3 class II companies in systems"). The Class III category

147-629: A statement, Gardner acknowledged his mistakes and said he took full responsibility. The vast majority of the contributions were to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker . On November 29, 2011, it was announced that WSOR would be acquired by Watco , with the deal to close on January 1, 2012. In December 2012, the state of Wisconsin issued $ 17.1 million in financial aid to WSOR to rehabilitate 11 miles (18 km) of rail line between Plymouth and Kohler , which connects with existing WSOR tracks at Plymouth. Service has begun as of 2015. WSOR operated

168-515: Is headquartered in Madison, which is also a central hub terminal. The train dispatching office is located in Horicon. Locomotive maintenance is centered in Janesville, with secondary work also being performed at Horicon. WSOR's Horicon paint shops perform contract work on both rolling stock and locomotives. WSOR began operations in 1980 when the state acquired several Milwaukee Road branch lines and signed

189-886: The Association of American Railroads as "Regional Railroads" are typically Class II. Some examples of Class II railroads would be the Florida East Coast Railway , the Iowa Interstate Railroad , and the Alabama and Gulf Coast Railway . Class III railroads are typically local shortline railroads serving a small number of towns and industries or hauling cars for one or more railroads; often, they once had been branch lines of larger railroads or even abandoned portions of main lines. Some Class III railroads are owned by railroad holding companies such as Genesee & Wyoming or Watco . Some examples of Class III railroads would be

210-514: The Soo Line Railroad in 1998 (sold outright in 2003). The most recent acquisition was north of Milwaukee in 2005, when the state purchased the ex-Milwaukee Road line between Saukville and Kiel , which Wisconsin Central Ltd. was going to abandon. Soon thereafter, WSOR leased in part and bought in part an ex-C&NW line to Sheboygan from UP. WSOR was named the 2009 Regional Railroad of

231-722: The Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With annual adjustments for inflation, the 2019 thresholds were US$ 504,803,294 for Class I carriers and US$ 40,384,263 for Class II carriers. (Smaller carriers were Class III by default.) There are six Class I freight railroad companies in the United States: BNSF Railway , CSX Transportation , Canadian National Railway , CPKC , Norfolk Southern Railway , and Union Pacific Railroad . Canadian National also operates in Canada and CPKC operates in Canada and Mexico. In addition,

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252-419: The ICC in 1996, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) has become responsible for defining criteria for each railroad class. The STB continues to use designations of Class II and Class III as there are different labor regulations for the two classes. The bounds are typically redefined every several years to adjust for inflation and other factors. Class II and Class III designations are now rarely used outside

273-442: The ICC to increase the minimum annual operating revenue criteria (then established at US$ 93.5 million) to avoid being redesignated as Class I, which would have resulted in increased administrative and legal costs. The Class II maximum criterion was increased in 1992 to $ 250 million annually, which resulted in the Florida East Coast Railway having its status changed to Class II. The thresholds set in 1992 were: Since dissolution of

294-671: The WSOR system is divided into two divisions, the Northern Division and the Southern Division. The Northern Division is essentially the original WSOR trackage from 1980, with a few new lines that have been added around the Milwaukee area since the 1990s. It includes the line northwest from Milwaukee to Horicon , where it splits into branches to Cambria and Oshkosh, as well as a line from Milwaukee north to Kiel . The Southern Division includes

315-528: The Year by Railway Age magazine. On April 11, 2011, WSOR's president and chief executive officer (CEO), William Gardner, was charged with two felonies after he was accused of funneling more than $ 60,000 in illegal campaign contributions through WSOR employees during the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial election . Gardner agreed to plead guilty to two felony counts. Under a deal, prosecutors agreed not to seek jail time but instead would seek two years of probation. In

336-537: The central United States to central Mexico. In addition, the national passenger railroads in the US and Canada— Amtrak and Via Rail —would both qualify as Class I if they were freight carriers. Mexico's Ferromex would qualify as a Class I railroad if it had trackage in the United States. A Class II railroad in the United States hauls freight and is mid-sized in terms of operating revenue. Switching and terminal railroads are excluded from Class II status. Railroads considered by

357-413: The lines acquired from the Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad in 1992, centered on Madison and Janesville, as well as several lines acquired in the 1990s in the Madison area. The two divisions are not physically connected with WSOR-owned trackage, but trackage rights over a short section of Canadian National's Waukesha Subdivision from Waukesha to Slinger provide a link between the two divisions. WSOR

378-623: The national passenger railroad in the United States, Amtrak , would qualify as Class I if it were a freight carrier, as would Canada's Via Rail passenger service. Mexico 's Ferromex freight railroad would also qualify as Class I, but it does not operate within the United States. Initially (in 1911) the former federal agency Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) classified railroads by their annual gross revenue . Class I railroads had an annual operating revenue of at least $ 1 million, while Class III railroad incomes were under $ 100,000. Railroads in both classes were subject to reporting requirements on

399-420: The rail transport industry. The Association of American Railroads typically divides non–Class I companies into three categories: In the United States, the Surface Transportation Board categorizes rail carriers into Class I, Class II, and Class III based on the carrier's annual revenue. The thresholds, last adjusted for inflation in 2019, are: In Canada , a Class I rail carrier is defined (as of 2004 ) as

420-709: Was abandoned in 1997 except for a short stub in Madison . The short stub was abandoned in 2012, when the Charter Street Heating Plant in Madison discontinued using coal as their fuel source. WSOR thus gained access to Chicago (through trackage rights over Metra from Fox Lake ), Janesville , Madison, and Prairie du Chien . Further expansion came with a lease from the Union Pacific Railroad (UP) of Madison-area ex-C&NW trackage in 1996, and of an ex-Milwaukee Road line between Madison and Watertown from

441-542: Was dropped in 1956 but reinstated in 1978. By 1963, the number of Class I railroads had dropped to 102; cutoffs were increased to $ 5 million by 1965, to $ 10 million in 1976 and to $ 50 million in 1978, at which point only 41 railroads qualified as Class I. In a special move in 1979, all switching and terminal railroads were re-designated Class III — even those with Class I or Class II revenues. In early 1991, two Class II railroads, Montana Rail Link and Wisconsin Central , asked

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