Omnitrax acquires Railnet

[Anonymous]

OmniTRAX picks up RailNet short lines

DENVER, Colo. – Shortline portfolio holder OmniTRAX announced Friday it has acquired North American RailNet’s three U.S.-based short lines. The deal, which is expected to be completed next month, excludes RailNet’s Canadian subsidiary, Alberta RailNet, which will be owned after this transaction by current North American RailNet shareholders.

The three U.S.-based short lines to be acquired are:

Nebraska, Kansas & Colorado RailNet (NKCR), which operates 559 miles of former Burlington Northern lines its three namesake states, hauling wheat, corn, coal, and fertilizer. After major track improvements, grain elevators on the Sterling, Colo.-Holdrege, Nebr., line, at Venango, Loomis, and Maywood, Nebr., now load 110-car shuttle trains. NKCR also ships inbound coal off BNSF Railway on this line to the largest power plant in Nebraska. The other NKCR lines extend from Orleans, in south central Nebraska, into northwestern Kansas.
Georgia & Florida RailNet (GFRR), whose network of about 300 miles radiates from Albany, Ga., and extends into northwestern Florida. GFRR primarily hauls wood pulp, beer, agricultural commodities, and limestone/aggregate. Its on-line customers include Miller Brewing, Procter & Gamble and Buckeye Technologies.
Illinois RailNet, comprised of four ex-Burlington Northern track segments in the Prairie State totaling 113 miles to the west of Chicago, serves major industrial mineral producers including U.S. Silica, Wedron Silica, and Unimin Corp. The lines extend from four BNSF interchange points: Aurora southwest to Ottawa and Streator; Rochelle north to Rockford; Oregon northwest to Mount Morris; and Zearing southeast to LaSalle-Peru.
The addition of these three short lines will bring to 18 the number of railroads OmniTRAX operates in North America.

[Junctionfan]

Now if they could merge with the Guilford System and Rail America, another class 1 could be in the making.

[fuzzybroken]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan

Now if they could merge with the Guilford System and Rail America, another class 1 could be in the making.

Guilford is one thing. They bought three down-n-out railroads, lost one to bankruptcy, and run an ok railroad with old junker locomotives. Maybe Providence & Worcester should buy them? That would give them some class.

RA is another thing. While predecessor RailTex had lots of different shortlines, each with its own image, RA is pretty much making all of 'em look alike. I also notice from some casual observation (i.e. no in-depth study) that there are probably several clusters of shortlines that could very easily be merged into several single railroads. And they should pick a nice, different paint scheme for each of these "super-shortlines".

My [2c] anyways. OmniTrax still seems to have variety/

-Mark
http://www.geocities.com/fuzzybroken

[Junctionfan]

My fictious railroad is a group of merge shortlines and regionals plus new rail lines. If it wasn't so darn expensive and a legal hastle, I'm sure that it would be in the works now.

It may happen if the government get fed up with the current class 1s. They might give out grants to create stronger competition; as unlikely that is, it is still a possibility.