BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AWARD

The ASLRRA Business Development Award Competition recognizes the Class II and III railroads that have designed and enacted the most innovative and successful business-building initiatives in the small railroad industry. Criteria for the ASLRRA Business Development Award can be found here. Please contact Amy Krouse at akrouse@aslrra.org with any questions.

Congratulations to our 2020 Business Development Award Winners!

      
         
 
  Silver Creek Vehicle Distribution and Homologation Center – includes a state-of-the-art 28,000 square foot
homologation building, a 12-car rail spot with the ability to handle a 90-car auto rack train with inbound/
outbound haul-away carrier and drive-away shuttle services.		  
 

Ann Arbor Railroad (AA)		  
  The company’s analysis of the auto industry’s sales and production trends, coupled with the identification of an under-utilized facility in Toledo, Ohio led to a partnership opportunity with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to create a new distribution center for finished automobiles – the Silver Creek Vehicle Distribution and Homologation Center.  Breaking ground in 2018, and beginning operations in time for the Jeep® Gladiator launch in July of 2019, the facility supports FCA’s Toledo and Detroit assembly production with an 1,800 car through-put capacity per day, has created 102 new jobs, and has helped stabilize the local economy.  
     
 
         
       
      The Seaford Transload Terminal provides liquid transloading and storage systems that are heat-traced and insulated.

Delmarva Central Railroad (DCR)
Discussions with existing customers uncovered that certain liquid ingredients, vital to the manufacture of chicken feed, were being trucked in from beyond the Delmarva Peninsula. DCR approached the market leaders and partnered with these suppliers via long-term agreements to ship railcars of liquid feed ingredients to the eastern shore of Delaware, Maryland, & Virginia for transloading at their previously acquired facility in Seaford, Delaware. Significant investments were made to the site to allow for the efficient handling of this new rail traffic that was a 100% conversion from long-haul trucks. The result has created long-term value for all stakeholders including the community by taking traffic off the road.
     

 

 
    The Venture Rail Warehouse facility includes 406,000 square feet, 15 indoor rail spaces, and 58 truck docks.  

The Indiana Rail Road Company (INRD)

  
The INRD forged a partnership with Indianapolis-based trucking company Venture Logistics, to build a 406,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art, rail-served distribution center in Indianapolis.  The Venture Rail Warehouse, which features 58 truck docks and 15 indoor rail car spots, is the most modern rail-served facility in central Indiana.  In 2017, the warehouse’s first full year of operation, the INRD moved more than 1,200 carloads into the Venture Rail Warehouse.  The rail business more than doubled to 2,600 carloads in 2019.  The $21 million dollar investment has allowed the INRD to diversify, provided a much-needed modern facility in the logistics hub of Indianapolis and will drive continued growth with a partner that was formerly considered solely a competitor.  
     

 

 
    One of two new transload facilities brought online, West Hazelton includes unique loading equipment to meet a customer’s needs.  

Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad (RBMN)

  
The railroad has continued to pursue its strategy of working closely with customers to provide unique transloading opportunities to grow current customer business, and to provide new customers with efficient rail service.  RBMN opened two new transload facilities in 2019, in West Hazelton, and in Ransom, Pennsylvania.  In addition, in 2019 RBMN brought the trucking piece of transloading in house at all four of their transload locations.  The addition of truck loading services provides a competitive advantage over other operators, allowing for control of all aspects of the operation (rail, transloading/warehousing, and trucking), providing customers with a timely and seamless flow of goods and material.  Collectively, transload efforts have resulted in nearly 900 carloads in 2019, contributing to the company’s overall carload traffic growth of 6%.  RBMN handled a record breaking 34,000+ carloads in 2019.  
     

Previous Award Winners

Please click here to view a list of previous ASLRRA Business Development Award Winners.