Press Releases

2007 ASLRRA Marketing Awards

This year?s ASLRRA Marketing Award winners impressed the judges with their short line ingenuity. These railroads established new partnerships, found new and innovative uses for older facilities, engaged in creative thinking and problem solving, and attracted new commodities to rail service.

Arkansas Midland Railroad

In August 2000, the Arkansas Midland Railroad (AKMD) leased from Union Pacific a nine-mile line with few customers in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Over the next two years, AKMD grew the business in this decaying industrial area from six to approximately 14 customers. However, the biggest opportunity to aid in North Little Rock?s industrial rebirth arrived in 2002 when ADM purchased the Southern Cotton Oil facility and closed its doors permanently.

Seeing the potential of this 16-acre site, the ADMD brokered a deal whereby: (1) ADM sold the entire 16-acre site to the City of North Little Rock for a nominal sum; (2) ADM removed all the manufacturing equipment from the premises at no cost to the city, leaving only the usable buildings; and (3) AKMD entered with the city into a land management agreement which included the performance of track maintenance on the existing rail infrastructure. The AKMD also agreed to market this new facility and share specific revenues with the City of North Little Rock.

Through a partnership with Pinsly?s transloading subsidiary, Railroad Distribution Services, AKMD has more than tripled the original traffic estimates for the renamed North Little Rock Logistics Center. The Center handles industrial sand, lumber, cottonseed, shingles, and wood pallets.

AKMD?s creation of an industrial renaissance in this area has resulted in an over 300 percent increase in rail traffic since 2000 and the location of 15 additional industries since 2002. The City of North Little Rock has also enjoyed a new revenue stream that can be used for local community projects.

Buckingham Branch Railroad Company

The Buckingham Branch?s largest customer is Martin Marietta Aggregates. Martin Marietta ships ballast trains to various CSX destinations, as well as revenue loads of stone to the Williamsburg ? Newport News area, which is about 100 miles away from its quarry near Doswell, Virginia.

Prior to Buckingham Branch?s 2004 takeover of the former CSX line, train crew delays, locomotive placement, and loaded ballast trains not leaving the quarry properly had repeatedly delayed trains at the Martin Marietta facility.

To overcome these problems, the Buckingham Branch came up with a simple and effective operating plan ? MOVE TRAINS. The railroad dedicated a train crew to the ballast trains, delivering the train to the quarry for prompt loading, and then immediately moving the train to the interchange track. A passing siding was also lengthened.

Reliable service, regular communication, creative thinking, and problem resolution were the key factors that boosted the business between Martin Marietta and the Buckingham Branch from about 10,000 carloads during 2004 to 15,643 cars in 2006, a 56.4 percent increase. Not insignificantly, this improvement also kept 22,572 trucks off Virginia?s fragile highway system.

New England Central Railroad

Wood pellets are a relatively new fuel in New England, and are burned by homeowners in stoves especially designed for this relatively cheap, environmentally-friendly heat source.

When New England Wood Pellet, LLC (NEWP), a wood pellet manufacturer, discovered that the 75,000 tons of wood pellets produced at its factory in the non-rail served town of Jaffrey, New Hampshire, could not meet demand, it located a new wood pellet manufacturer, Houston Pellet Co., in British Columbia. Houston Pellet Company agreed to manufacture the pellets, but it did not want to bag them. As a result, NEWP, a company without prior experience as a rail customer, had to quickly find a location willing to receive these wood pellets in covered hoppers and then unload, bag, and distribute them to the New England market. Shipments had to begin in three months.

The Canadian National and the New England Central (NECR) created a rate and service package to make rail transportation from British Columbia work for this project. Using its relationships with local real estate firms and the Town of Palmer, Massachusetts, the NECR found a vacant warehouse building in an industrial park for NEWP. The siding had not been used in nearly 20 years.

New England Wood Pellets has invested approximately $1.5 million in renovating the building, installing equipment, and rehabilitating the track. It now processes 15 cars of wood pellets weekly. The result has been a win-win-win situation for NEWP, the Maple Tree Industrial Park in Palmer, and the New England Central.