| Iowa Interstate acquires Lincoln & Southern |
|---|
| CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The Iowa Interstate Railroad (IAIS), a subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based Railroad Development Corporation, received STB approval to purchase the Lincoln & Southern Railroad from PolyOne Corporation in a decision issued Dec. 22, 2006, according to this release issued by the IAIS. The transaction closed on Dec. 31, the IAIS said, and with the purchase of the L&S, IAIS completed three transactions in 2006. Earlier in the year, IAIS purchased OmniTRAX’s Great Western Railway at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and assumed operation of the Utica, Ill.-to Henry, Il.-line segment previously operated by CSX. “The purchase of the L&S is another step in solidifying the Iowa Interstate Railroad’s long-term plans and strengthening our franchise,” said IAIS President and CEO Dennis Miller. "We have upgraded our main line from Council Bluffs to Utica, Ill., over the past two years, and this 31-mile section from Henry, Ill., to Peoria will also be upgraded to handle 286,000-pound loads. “IAIS currently handles unit trains of coal to Cedar Rapids and unit trains of grain to Peoria via the L&S,” Miller said. “The L&S, which serves as our access to Peoria, makes our customers competitive at a number of grain processing facilities owned by companies such as ADM, Aventine and Midwest Grain Processors. The L&S is our primary access to the Illinois River, which remains ice-free year-round, and serves as an intermodal connection for grain and other products. The L&S currently has one on-line customer that ships sand to Chicago and other markets; we hope to add additional customers in the future.” (The preceding release was issued by the Iowa Interstate Railroad on Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007.) |
Huh? [%-)] Are Alliant Energy and/or ADM getting their coal from central Illinois?
Good news from the heartland. It sounds like Iowa Interstate made a good decision in acquiring the L&S.
Nice to see a good railroad expand and position itself for additional growth. The core of the Rock lives on.
Seems like 2007 will be a good year for the little guys so far. Hopefully this trend continues.
IAIS picks up unit coal trains from CN at Peoria and hauls them to Cedar Rapids. Empties go the reverse direction.
They get them from CN??? Now I’m REALLY [%-)]!!! Where does CN get the coal from? And why doesn’t CN just bring it in on the CNIC line from Dubuque?
Where does CN get coal from? Well, they do service four mines in IL.
Creek Paum Mine, Ava, IL
Crown III, Farmersville, IL
Galatia Mine, Harrisburg, IL
Liberty Mine, Galatia, IL
Which of those end up going to Cedar Rapids via IAIS? I don’t know.
Did not know that. Hmmm, I wonder if CN doesn’t want to run that stuff down the Manchester to CR line- I know there are some pretty weak-looking bridges (relatively speaking) on that stretch.
Just in case someone is not familiar with L&S, here is an excerpt from IAIS web site.
Iowa Interstate has filed with the Surface Transportation Board for permission to acquire 100% ownership of the Lincoln & Southern Railroad. The L&S is a railroad on paper only - it was created by BF Goodrich to save the portion of the Peoria line from Henry, IL, as a second connection to their Henry chemical plant in order to avoid being locked into CSXT for their shipping needs. The L&S has never owned equipment nor had an employee. It’s currently owned by PolyOne Corporation, the owners of the old BF Goodrich plant at Henry. Shortly after the L&S’s creation in 1985, Iowa Interstate was chosen as an operator, and the route has been operated as part of IAIS since 1987.
I would say that this acquisition is not really expansion on the part of IAIS. They are taking direct ownership of a line that they already operate so they can upgrade to handle increasing car weights and business. They’re also picking up some customers in the area that CSX no longer wishes to serve.
CN–ex-IC–gets the coal from a mine in Central Illinois just west of Farmersville. This is the last remants of IC’s Springfiled, IL to St. Louis, MO line. The line is abandoned and removed just south of Farmersville–which is about 30 miles south of Springfield.
The coal goes from Farmersville to Springfield, from Sprinfield to Mt. Pulaski, on IC’s Springfield - Gilman Sub, then from Mt. Pulaski to Peoria on the IC’s Peoria - Matoon Sub.
I either have uncanny luck in catching this train, or they run it often. I have driven to Springfield on I-55 probably 7 times in the last three years and managed to catch a coal train coming out of the Farmersville mine 5 of the times, despite the fact that the I-55 only runs along side the IC for about 30 miles.
Gabe
Coal goes to ADM. Once upon a time IES had a barge facility in Dubuque and when the river was open to navigation, coal came in by barge and then by rail (CC&P at the time) to Cedar Rapids. I have pictures of the Crandic coming down to CIC Jct (Yokum before the east leg was added) with 5 or so switch engines.
Every once in a while UP will have coal train for ADM coming from Illinois.
Jeff
Very interesting… that explains a sight a saw a few months back, then; I was returning from Illinois, going across the Mississippi at Clinton, looked down at the UP tracks and observed a loaded coal train headed west. I remember thinking at the time, “What the [censored]?”
“…grain processing facilities owned by companies such as ADM, Aventine and Midwest Grain Processors”
Midwest Grain Processors is in Iowa; this should have read MGP Ingredients.
DPJ