Genesee and Wyoming Railroad

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Genesee & Wyoming Railroad

Reporting marks	GNWR
Locale	New York
Dates of operation	1899 – present
Track gauge	4 ft 8½ in (1435 mm) (standard gauge)
Headquarters	Rochester, New York

The Genesee and Wyoming Railroad (AAR reporting marks GNWR) is a Class III short-line railroad which is operated by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (GWI). GWI either owns or maintains interests in 47 railroads throughout five countries (the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bolivia, and Australia), and operates more than 9,300 miles of owned and leased track, with an additional 3,000-plus miles under track-access arrangements.

Rail Link, Inc. (AAR reporting marks RLIX), a subsidiary of Genesee & Wyoming Inc., provides industrial switching and related customer logistics services. Rail Link, headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, serves industrial customers at 30 locations in 11 states and operates 26 short line railroads (including the Commonwealth Railway, Louisiana and Delta Railroad, and Yorkrail). Rail Link railroads serve 10 major U.S. ports.

1 History
2 Holdings
3 References
4 External links
5 External links

[edit] History

Rail Link, Inc. #444 swithces the BASF plant on the Commonwealth Railway in the West Norfolk area of Portsmouth, Virginia.

Genesee & Wyoming Inc. was founded more than a century ago as a single, 14.5-mile railroad transporting salt from a family-owned mine in western New York. The track was purchased by Edward Laton Fuller in 1899 and served to transport salt from Greigsville through Retsof to Caledonia.

Over time, the G&W connected with the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, Lehigh Valley Railroad, Erie Railroad, New York Central Railroad and Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad.

Within ten years of Fuller's purchase, the G&W included a fledgling passenger division. It carried some 10,000 tons of local products annually, including hay, grain, apples, beans, cabbages and lumber to connecting lines, along with approximately 221,300 tons of salt.

In 1910, the railroad brought in 1,500 tons of mining equipment along with 7,000 tons of coal and 1,470 tons of manufactured goods, including furniture, clothing, food and musical instruments for delivery to the Retsof Mining Company Store.

In 1917, in the shadow of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson took control of some 800 short line railroads and 35,000 miles of track in the U.S. During the highly regulated years that followed, the G&W found itself hauling thousands of tons of salt for the war effort. It was used for salted meats during World War I and, during World War II, not only for food but also for use in rubber tires, iron ore, bleaching materials and anti-knock additives for gasoline.

By 1977, the G&W had helped the International Salt Co. grow into a major corporation, with the Retsof Mine becoming the largest salt mine in the world. However, the railroad remained highly dependent on a single commodity and one primary shipper. In addition, the bankrupt Northeast rail system was facing a questionable future. Many began to wonder if a rail system, which had been taken over by the USRA, could be returned to the private sector.

Mortimer B. Fuller III, the great-grandson of Edward L. Fuller, acquired control of the railroad, and a few years later Congress passed the Staggers Act of 1980. The Act deregulated railroads and allowed them to dispose of routes they could not operate profitably, helping them restore their financial health. Acquiring these rail lines fit into Fuller's plan reduce Genesee & Wyoming's dependence on a single customer.

Between 1982 and 1996, Genesee & Wyoming acquired 14 railroads with operations in New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Oregon and Illinois. In 1996, the company added an industrial switching company that operated in more than a dozen states.

Many governments began stemming their losses in the operation of public utilities and railroads through privatization. For expertise, they turned to the United States which, along with Canada, had the only broad-based, private freight rail systems in the world. Through acquisitions and joint ventures, Genesee & Wyoming added railroads in Canada, Australia, Mexico and Bolivia.

In July 2003, the Carolina Coastal Railway, operated by G&W subsidiary Rail Link, Inc., was sold to Main Line Rail Management, Inc.

On May 26, 2005, G&W announced that it has agreed to purchase the railroad operations of Rail Management Corporation (RMC). G&W paid $243 million in cash and assume $1.7 million in company debt to gain control of 14 short line railroads from RMC across the southeastern United States, as of June 1, 2005.

As of the close of 2005, Genesee & Wyoming had 2,330 employees in North America.

That year, Hurricane Stan wiped out several miles of Genesee & Wyoming track in Mexico. In 2006, the Mexican government agreed to pay 75 percent of the rebuilding costs, or $15 million, to reconstruct the track.

On February 13, 2006, G&W announced that it has sold its 50% share in operations (the other 50% was owned by Wesfarmers Ltd.) of the Australian Railroad Group (ARG) in Western Australia to Queensland Rail (QR) and Babcock and Brown (B&B). The deal, valued at $974 million (A$1.55 billion), splits the holdings between operations and infrastructure elements with QR purchasing the above-rail operations and B&B purchasing the below-rail infrastructure. In a concurrent deal, G&W is purchasing Westfarmer's share of ARG in South Australia for $15 million (A$22 million), which will be renamed Genesee & Wyoming Australia Pty Ltd and operated as a subsidiary company of G&W.^[1]

Also in 2006, Genesee & Wyoming elected to write off most of the value of its Bolivian operation, on fears that the Bolivian government would soon nationalize privately held railroads there.