March 14 news from RAILWAY AGE Magazine: _________________________________________________ Railway Age names 2008 Short Line, Regional Railroads of the Year Railway Age magazine has named Glencoe, Minn.-based Twin Cities & Western Railroad Co. 2008 Short Line Railroad of the Year, and the South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad 2008 Regional Railroad of the Year. The awards will be presented at the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association’s annual meeting in San Antonio, Tex., on May 5. “Competence and effective decision-making are evident in this year’s two winners, who exemplify the best qualities so many smaller railroads display,” says Railway Age Publisher Robert P. DeMarco. “Each of this year’s winners faced two very different obstacles; one required a proactive business advancement, the other a swift reaction to the wrath of Mother Nature. But in both cases, the award winners met the challenge through strong marketing, customer service, effective asset utilization, wise capital investments, and teamwork both within their organization and with connecting roads.” The winning short line, the Twin Cities & Western Railroad, owns 146 route-miles of track and operates over 229 miles, and has championed the creation and growth of intermodal container service, particularly in conjunction with Class I partner Canadian Pacific. Among TC&W’s customers, North Star Rail Intermodal has tapped the short line to transport empty containers from CP’s terminal in Shoreham, Minn., to Montevideo, where North Star loads containers of soybeans and distillers bound for export to Asian markets. Turnaround time for CP is 24 hours, maximizing the efficiency of backhaul operations for the Class I. TC&W also has cooperated with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and several agricultural cooperative customers to foster intermodal movement of grain and other agricultural products. TC&W also has turned to Lexington, Mass.-based RailRunner NA, which provides a bimodal railcar/trailer and container chassis system for intermodal operations. In 2007 TC&W generated 3,158 containers, 5% of the company’s total revenue; TC&W expects both container loads and related revenue to increase substantially in 2008. Regional Railroad of the Year South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad, sporting 404 main line track miles traversing much of southern Kansas, proved its business mettle in July 2007 as widespread flooding assaulted its infrastructure, resulting in 38 miles of submerged track and an embargo on 250 miles of railroad after one week of rain. SK&O implemented a three-phase emergency reopening and repair plan, designed first to free existing traffic trapped by floodwaters and then expanding from there. Phase I emergency repairs were completed in just 23 days, and Phase II, involving more detailed repairs, commenced. Phase III is ongoing during the 2008 construction season, and will result in SK&O’s restoration of all track to 25 mph standards, with rehabilitation of signals, bridges, grade crossings, ditches, and debris removal. Both TC&W, the Short Line Railroad of the Year, and SK&O, the Regional Railroad of the Year, will be featured in Railway Age’s April 2008 issue. Railway Age is the transportation industry’s oldest trade magazine, and celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2006. The monthly magazine is circulated at the management levels of North American freight and passenger railroads. Emphasis is placed on technology, operations, strategic planning, marketing, and other issues such as legislative and labor/management developments of interest to railway management, railway suppliers, and consultants.
