Datasets:
HHazard
/
continuous-learning

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
Community
1
text
stringlengths
13
991
Lobbying efforts on the part of Consol have also been an issue of controversy. In the first quarter of 2010, Consol spent $1.02 million in lobbying expenses on issues relating to the coal mining and natural gas industries. Furthermore, in all of 2010, Consol spent $3.25 million in lobbying expenditures.
Consol Energy has previously put its name to two sports facilities in its Pittsburgh-area. In 2007, Consol Energy purchased the naming rights to Washington, Pennsylvania's minor league baseball team the Washington Wild Things' field, Consol Energy Park. Consol Energy has let the naming rights deal expire as of January 2017.
Consol later purchased the naming rights to the Consol Energy Center in 2008; the arena that hosts the Pittsburgh Penguins National Hockey League team. It is estimated that Consol Energy won the bid for naming rights at a cost between $2.0 - $4.0 million per year, for 21 years. the Consol Energy Center has been renamed PPG Paints Arena as Consol Energy has ended its naming rights of the venue.
Pinsly Railroad Company, based in Westfield, Massachusetts, is a holding company of several short line railroads. It is one of the oldest such companies in the United States, having been founded in 1938 and owned railroads ever since. Pinsly owns only one railroad: Pioneer Valley Railroad.
Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1899, Samuel M. Pinsly received degrees in engineering and law from Northwestern University before briefly serving in the U.S. Army during World War I. Pinsly founded his shortline operating company in 1938 with the purchase of the Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad from his father-in-law, fellow shortline operator H.E. Salzberg. While the line was rebuilt and turned a profit, extensive line relocations due to a new dam forced the railroad to be abandoned in 1971. Pinsly went on to acquire a number of lines throughout New England and the Southeast until his death in 1977.
Pinsly sold their 3 Florida shortlines (Florida Central Railroad, Florida Midland Railroad and Florida Northern Railroad) to 3i RR Holdings GP, LLC and subsidiaries (d.b.a. "Regional Rail, LLC") in November 2019.
These are the railroads that were once under the common ownership of Pinsly, listed in order of acquisition.
Railroad Acquisition Holdings, LLC (RAH) is a railroad holding company which owns several railroads in the U.S. states of Florida, Maine, and Vermont, as well as the Canadian province of Quebec.
RAH was formed on December 10, 2013, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware.
CSX Corporation is an American holding company focused on rail transportation and real estate in North America, among other industries. The company was established in 1980 as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merger. The various railroads of the former Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries that are now owned by CSX Corporation were eventually merged into a single line in 1986 and it became known as CSX Transportation. CSX Corporation currently has a number of subsidiaries beyond CSX Transportation. Based in Richmond, Virginia, USA after the merger, in 2003 the CSX Corporation headquarters moved to Jacksonville, Florida. CSX is a Fortune 500 company.
CSX Transportation is a Class I railroad operating in the eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles (34,000 km) of track.
As of December 30, 2016, CSX Transportation served population centers in 23 states east of the Mississippi River, the District of Columbia and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. As of December 30, 2016, it had access to over 70 ocean, river and lake port terminals along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway.
Conrail was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name (Consolidated Rail Corporation), and while it no longer operates trains it continues to do business as an asset management and network services provider in three Shared Assets Areas that were excluded from the division of its operations during its acquisition by CSX Corporation and the Norfolk Southern Railway.
The Winston-Salem Southbound Railway is a short-line railroad jointly held by CSX Transportation and the Norfolk Southern Railway, which provides it with equipment. It connects with Norfolk Southern at the north end in Winston-Salem, CSX at the south end in Wadesboro, and in between with NS at Lexington and Whitney, the subsidiary High Point, Thomasville and Denton Railroad at High Rock, and the Aberdeen, Carolina and Western Railway at Norwood. Originally owned jointly by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and Norfolk and Western Railway, predecessors to CSX and NS, it was completed in November 1910.
Commodities commonly carried by the railroad are grain, sand, gravel, stone, forest products, paper products, coal, coke, cement, clay fertilizer, aluminum, chemicals, iron, and steel. Its principal shippers are Corn Products Company of Winston-Salem, a manufacturer of corn syrup and related products, and Owens Brockway Glass Company of Eller, a manufacturer of glass products.
CSX is organized into two operating regions: the West Region and the East Region. Each primary region is divided into two sub-regions:
CSX Corporation was formed on November 1, 1980, by combining the railroads of the former Chessie System with Seaboard Coast Line Industries.
The founding chairman of CSX Corporation was Prime F. Osborn III of Seaboard, for whom Jacksonville's Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center is named. The first CEO and second chairman was Hays T. Watkins Jr. of Chessie. Watkins was succeeded by John W. Snow as CEO in 1989 and as chairman in 1991. When Snow left the company in 2003 to become United States Secretary of the Treasury, Michael J. Ward, who then headed CSX Transportation, was promoted to succeed him. Overall in 2003, Ward took on the positions of chairman, president, and CEO. When president Oscar Munoz left CSX in September 2015 after obtaining the role earlier that year from Ward, the company underwent several management changes, with Clarence Gooden appointed president.
The company went through major leadership changes in 2017 when activist investor Mantle Ridge, a hedge fund that held 4.9% of CSX's stock, demanded a change in the board, that Michael Ward step down as CEO, that the company cut middle management, and that the company hire Hunter Harrison, known for leading the turnaround three other railroads, as CEO. Within months of Harrison's hiring in spring 2017, several members of CSX's executive management team stepped down. Harrison died on December 16, 2017 and shortly thereafter Chief Operating Officer James M. Foote was named president and chief executive officer.
CSX is also trying to increase profits by monetizing some of its real estate. As of early 2018, the company planned to generate $800 million by 2020 by selling off some railroad lines and other real estate. As of the same date, CSX held real estate in 23 states, the District of Columbia, and two Canadian provinces.
The following is a list of CSX management as of January 2020:
At the end of 2018, CSX Corporation's total shareholder's equity was reported as US$12.58 billion and total assets were valued at $36.729 billion. Total revenue for 2018 was $12.25 billion, an increase from $11.408 billion the previous year. Operating income was $4.869 billion, up from $3.72 billion in 2017, while earnings before income taxes were $4.304 billion, compared to $3.142 billion the previous year.
As of 2019, CSX Corporation was a Fortune 500 company.
The CSX Transportation Building is a high-rise office building in Jacksonville, Florida. Completed in 1960, the building currently serves as headquarters for CSX Corporation. The building is located in the Northbank area of Downtown Jacksonville, along the banks of the St. Johns River. Its former names include the Atlantic Coast Line Building and the Seaboard Coastline Railroad Building. Designed by KBJ Architects, the CSX Transportation Building is a LEED certified building and is an example of mid-century modern and international style architecture.
Pan Am Railways, Inc. (PAR), known before March 2006 as Guilford Rail System, is an American holding company that owns and operates Class II regional railroads covering northern New England from Mattawamkeag, Maine, to Rotterdam Junction, New York. The primary subsidiaries of Pan Am Railways are Boston and Maine Corporation, Maine Central Railroad Company, Portland Terminal Company, and Springfield Terminal Railway Company.
Pan Am Railways is headquartered in Iron Horse Park in North Billerica, Massachusetts. It is a subsidiary of Portsmouth, New Hampshire-based Pan Am Systems, formerly known as Guilford Transportation Industries. Guilford bought the name, colors and logo of Pan American World Airways in 1998.
On November 30, 2020, an agreement was announced for CSX to acquire Pan Am Railways. Norfolk Southern has expressed concern about possible impacts on competition. The sale was proposed as follows: CSX will own and operate between Mattawamkeag, ME and Ayer, MA. Between Ayer and Rotterdam, NY, Genessee and Wyoming Rail will be the operating party. This means the track will be owned by CSX but CSX will not dispatch it. Also the Norfolk Southern partner of Pan Am Southern (PAS) will keep its 49%. With the sale the intermodal traffic between Mechanicville and Ayer will be re-routed over the B&A to Worcester, MA. From there the traffic will come up the Worcester main and into Ayer Yard.
During much of the 20th century, heavy manufacturing industry tended to move out of New England, making the region primarily a receiver of freight traffic rather than an originator. Originating freight or carrying it long distance are far more profitable than final delivery or short haul. New England's railroads have long been handicapped by traffic flow that makes them delivery agents for other railroads and by short distances. Practically the longest one-railroad haul in New England was Boston & Maine's route from the Hudson River to Portland, Maine, — less than one-eighth of the distance from Seattle to Chicago on the BNSF Railway.
A merger consisting of the B&M, the Maine Central Railroad (MEC), and the Delaware & Hudson Railway (D&H), along with one or more other New England railroads, was proposed as long ago as 1929 by the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) as part of its nationwide merger proposal. Frederic C. Dumaine, Jr., president at various times of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (NH), the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad and D&H, proffered much the same idea. The benefits of such a merger would include economies of scale and longer hauls.
In 1977, Timothy Mellon, heir of the wealthy and influential Mellon family of Guilford, Connecticut, teamed up with ex-Penn Central employee David Fink to form Perma Treat, a railroad tie treatment company. Mellon wanted to acquire a railroad and considered several: Illinois Central Railroad and the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. None of those acquisitions happened, but Mellon's interest in railroads continued. The passage of the Staggers Rail Act in 1980 allowed Mellon and Fink to execute a business plan (unlike those of earlier railroads in the region), centering on buying up as many local railroads as possible, thus creating full horizontal integration over New England and the northern Mid-Atlantic states, and gaining efficiencies of scale.
In June 1981, Mellon purchased MEC and its wholly owned subsidiary Portland Terminal Company (then owned by U.S. Filter Corporation) through his holding company, Guilford Transportation Industries. In June 1983, the B&M became the second piece of the Guilford system, bringing with it a subsidiary, the Springfield Terminal Railway, a former interurban line connecting Springfield, Vermont to Charlestown, New Hampshire. The Springfield Terminal subsidiary continues to exist and houses most of the operational side of the entire company including train crews and dispatch.
By the time the Guilford system was formed, the one-time multiplicity of connecting railroads had become a single, healthy, well-managed railroad: Conrail. Any New England-bound traffic Conrail originated would move as far as possible on Conrail before being handed over to Guilford (e.g. to Springfield, Massachusetts, rather than Buffalo, New York), and it would move faster. The Guilford remained a short-haul, terminating railroad.
Guilford's first few years were defined by abandonments, labor unrest and strikes, and a draconian management style that damaged the company's reputation. The railroad struggled financially to turn a profit and implemented cost-cutting measures. Guilford then began to shrink its system by eliminating marginal low-density routes.
MEC's Mountain Division from Portland, Maine, to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, carried almost no local traffic and served only to give MEC a connection with a railroad other than B&M. With the formation of the Guilford system, it was deemed redundant. B&M was now part of the family, and interchanging traffic with the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) at Mattawamkeag, Maine, was easier than battling the grades of Crawford Notch in New Hampshire. A section in New Hampshire was salvaged and reborn as the Conway Scenic Railroad.
Similarly, the only business on MEC's Calais Branch from Bangor to Calais, Maine, was at the extreme eastern end, which could be reached by CP. Service on most of the branch was discontinued, and the line was sold to the Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT). The remaining service in Calais serves a pulp mill in Woodland and is operated by ST; MaineDOT leases a segment between Brewer and Ellsworth to the Downeast Scenic Railroad. The remaining Ellsworth-Calais segment was leased to the Downeast Sunrise Trail, an interim rail trail.
MEC's Rockland Branch from Brunswick, to Rockland, Maine, was also on the chopping block, as was part of the Lower Road, the Portland-Waterville route via Augusta, Maine. This branch would later be sold to MaineDOT, and operated on its behalf by the Maine Eastern Railroad until the end of 2015, when operations were transferred to the Central Maine and Quebec Railway (CMQ). The operation of this branch would soon be transferred to CP, upon that rail system's acquisition of CMQ.
In 1985, Guilford entered into an agreement with Norfolk Southern Railway (NS) to run trains to St. Louis. NS was attempting to win approval of a plan to purchase Conrail from the U.S. government and proposed allowing Guilford to lease Conrail lines to St. Louis in order to restore competition that would be lost in the merger. The plan would have allowed Guilford to use the Conrail mainline from Toledo to Ridgeway, Ohio, and from Crestline, Ohio, to St. Louis. Guilford would also purchase of Conrail track and 1,300 freight cars from Norfolk Southern for $53M. NS did not prevail in its attempt to purchase Conrail in 1985, and the Guilford plan was dropped. In 1987, Guilford also placed a bid to buy Southern Pacific.
The paper industry provides the largest source of business, with chemicals, clay and pulp inbound, and finished paper outbound. But the railroad has been losing ground to other forms of transportation - particularly trucking. A 2008 report issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers rated Maine at 48th of the 50 states in volume of freight traffic that moves by rail. The Maine Motor Transport Association web page reports that trucks transport 94% of total manufactured tonnage in Maine.
Despite the general growth in freight transport throughout the US, Guilford's growth remained stagnant after an initial increase in the 1990s. After the creation of Pan Am Railways, traffic dropped considerably. A report issued by MaineDOT listed traffic on MEC as being 162,658 loads in 1972. As of 2008, Pan Am traffic over the remaining portions of MEC was estimated to be less than 69,000 loads. During the same time span, the Association of American Railroads estimates that freight traffic throughout the US more than doubled.
In 1998, Guilford bought the name, colors and logo of Pan American World Airways. In March 2006, Guilford Transportation Industries changed its name to Pan Am Systems, and Guilford Rail System was rebranded as Pan Am Railways (PAR). Then in March 2009, PAR was ordered to pay the largest corporate criminal fine in Massachusetts history — $500,000 — due to the company's negligence to report a spill of hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel in violation of state and federal environmental laws and regulations.
As of 2011, PAR employs 750 people and has a $40 million payroll. The company continues to operate with subsidiary entities bearing the names of former railroads which over time formed the present day company. The company's assets are housed separately in these various subsidiaries for various reasons. For example, the Boston and Maine Corporation owns the railroad property itself while the Springfield Terminal branch operates the railroad (most of the company's employees are under the Springfield Terminal umbrella.) Meanwhile, the Maine Central entity owns rolling stock.
On May 15, 2008, NS announced that it had come to an agreement with PAR to "create an improved rail route between Albany, New York, and the Boston, Massachusetts, region, named the Patriot Corridor. The STB approved the deal on March 10, 2009, with each railroad owning 50% of a new company known as Pan Am Southern (PAS). PAR's trackage between Ayer, Massachusetts, and Mechanicville, New York, was transferred to PAS and continues to be operated and maintained by PAR's ST subsidiary. NS transferred to PAS cash and property valued at $140 million.
Improvements to the route include track and signal upgrades, and expansion of terminals, including construction of new automotive and intermodal terminals in Ayer and Mechanicville. In March 2012, the Federal Railroad Administration awarded a $2-million grant to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation for preliminary engineering on removing 19 obstacles to allow double stack container trains to use the Patriot Corridor route. The project includes raising clearance by two feet in the Hoosac Tunnel.
The company has been criticized for dumping used railroad ties that contain creosote rather than sending them for safe disposal or recycling.
Pan Am was put up for sale in July 2020. On November 30, 2020, CSX announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to purchase Pan Am Railways, Inc. The sale of Pan Am to CSX is subject to regulatory review and approval of the Surface Transportation Board.
PAR's main line runs from Mattawamkeag, Maine, to Mechanicville, New York, via the lines of the following former companies:
In August 2011, PAR repainted an EMD GP9 locomotive (ST #77) into the maroon and gold "Minuteman" paint scheme used on B&M locomotives in the 1950s. In December 2011, ST GP9 #52 was repainted using MEC's 1950s-era "Pine Tree Route" green and gold livery. Both were sold to the Heber Valley Railroad and departed Pan Am property in September 2018.
RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, is a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada.
In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it traded on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker symbol RRA. It was relisted in October 2009 with the ticker symbol RA.
On June 30, 2010, the company announced that it had acquired Atlas Railroad Construction, a construction and maintenance company operating in the Northeast and Midwest United States, for US$24 million.
In April 2011, RailAmerica made its first shortline purchase in over five years by initiating a deal with Gulf and Ohio Railways to acquire three Alabama shortlines for $12.7 million.
On July 23, 2012, Genesee & Wyoming Inc. announced that it intended to purchase RailAmerica in a deal valued at $1.39 billion. Approval of the purchase was granted by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board on December 19, 2012. While awaiting the decision, Genesee & Wyoming put RailAmerica control in the hands of a trust. They assumed control on December 28, 2012 and the company was in the process of integration to G&W.
RailAmerica controlled the following railroads. It has acquired some through purchase of other holding companies: RailLink Canada in July 1999, RailTex in February 2000, ParkSierra and StatesRail in January 2002, and the rail properties of Alcoa in September 2005.
In addition to those listed below, RailAmerica's prior owner, Fortress Investment Group, purchased the Florida East Coast Railway (FEC) in September 2007 from Florida East Coast Industries. Although Fortress maintained a level of common control between the two railroads, FEC was never made a formal part of the RailAmerica family, and Fortress did not include FEC in the RailAmerica spinoff.
RailAmerica was founded by Donald Redfearn and Gary O. Marino in 1986.
The Grand Trunk Corporation is the subsidiary holding company for the Canadian National Railway's properties in the United States. It is named for CN subsidiary railroad Grand Trunk Western Railroad. The Association of American Railroads has considered it to be a Class I railroad since fiscal year 2002.
GTC was incorporated under Delaware General Corporation Law on September 21, 1970 as Grand Trunk Industries, Inc., and renamed Grand Trunk Corporation on November 18, 1970. It acquired control of CN's U.S. properties; Grand Trunk Western, Central Vermont Railway and the Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway in December 1971, and has since acquired other companies, mostly through acquisitions of other holding companies: Illinois Central Railroad (IC) in 1999, Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation (WC) in 2001, Great Lakes Transportation in 2004, and Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway in 2008.
Patriot Rail Company LLC (Patriot Rail) is a holding company for a number of shortline railroads across the United States.
In June 2012, Patriot Rail was acquired by SteelRiver Infrastructure Partners (SteelRiver).
Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC is the parent company of the BNSF Railway (formerly the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway). The company is an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of
Berkshire Hathaway, which is controlled by investor Warren Buffett.
The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation was incorporated in 1993 to facilitate the merger of Burlington Northern, Incorporated, parent of the Burlington Northern Railroad, and Santa Fe Pacific Corporation, which owned the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe). The corporate merger was consummated on September 22, 1995, at which point shareholders of the previous companies became shareholders of BNSF and the two companies became wholly owned subsidiaries of BNSF. In December 1996, the two holding companies and two railroads were formally merged, and in January 1998 the remaining intermediate holding company was folded into the railroad.
Robert D. Krebs of Santa Fe Pacific was president of BNSF from the merger until 1999, chief executive from the merger until 2000, and chairman from 1997 until 2002. He was succeeded in all three positions by Matthew K. Rose.
On November 3, 2009, Berkshire Hathaway made a $26 billion offer to buy the remaining 77.4% of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation it did not already own, valuing the purchase at $34 billion. The deal, which including Berkshire's previous investment and the assumption of $10 billion in Burlington Northern debt brings the total value to $44 billion. Consummated February 12, 2010, it is the largest acquisition in Berkshire Hathaway's history.
The deal was structured so that the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation would merge with and into R Acquisition Company, LLC, an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. The deal closed on February 12, 2010, and at the same time, the now merged company changed its name to Burlington Northern Santa Fe, LLC that remains an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
BNSF Railway's primary rail competitor in the Western region of the US is the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Other Class 1 railroads and numerous regional railroads and motor carriers also operate in parts of the same territories served by BNSF Railway.
Based on weekly reporting by the Association of American Railroads, BNSF's share of the western US rail traffic in 2008 was approximately 49%.
OmniTRAX, Inc. is a transportation and transportation infrastructure holding company based in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. It primarily owns and operates railroads, with a network of 21 regional and shortline railroads in 12 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. It is one of the largest privately owned railroad companies in the United States. The firm also invests in, develops, and operates ports, multimodal transportation terminals, and industrial parks.
OmniTRAX was incorporated in 1986 as a subsidiary of The Broe Group, a privately held energy development and real estate company founded by Denver businessman Pat Broe in 1972. OmniTRAX purchased the Great Western Railway of Colorado that year in order to augment the value of Broe's industrial real estate developments in northeastern Colorado.
OmniTRAX leased the Kansas Southwestern Railway from the Union Pacific Railroad in April 1991.
In June 1992, OmniTRAX purchased all the outstanding stock of the Chicago West Pullman Transportation Co., which owned the Manufacturers' Junction Railway at Cicero, Illinois; the Newburgh and South Shore Railroad at Cleveland, Ohio; the Chicago Rail Link at Chicago, Illinois; the Chicago, West Pullman and Southern Railroad in Chicago; the Georgia Woodlands Railroad in Warren and Wilkes counties, Georgia; and the Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The Wisconsin & Calumet was sold less than a month later to the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad. OmniTRAX purchased the abandoned Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Cicero, which was adjacent to the Manufacturers' Junction Railway, and began developing it as a multimodal transfer center.
In October 1992, OmniTRAX purchased of track in Kansas and Oklahoma from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. The main lines of track stretched from Salina, Kansas, to Osborne, Kansas, and from Marion, Kansas, to Scott City, Kansas. OmniTRAX formed the Central Kansas Railway to run on the lines. The Kansas Southwestern Railway merged into the Central Kansas Railway in May 2000, and then OmniTRAX sold the Central Kansas Railway to Watco in April 2001.
OmniTRAX purchased of track between Borger and Panhandle, Texas, from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe in November 1993. It formed the Panhandle Northern Railroad to operate on this track. Eighteen months later, in May 1995, OmniTRAX leased the Northern Ohio & Western Railway from the Sandusky County/Seneca County/Tiffin Port Authority.
OmniTRAX moved into Canada in November 1996 with its purchase of the Hudson Bay Railway, which ran from The Pas, Manitoba, to the Port of Churchill in Churchill, Manitoba. OmniTRAX then purchased the port itself for C$1 in November 1997. As part of the deal, the Canadian government agreed to put C$34 million worth of upgrades, dredging, and repairs into the port, while OmniTRAX pledged to add C$45 million in upgrading the port facilities and Hudson Bay Railway. Three months later, OmniTRAX purchased the Carlton Trail Railway track bought from the Canadian National Railway. The ran from Warman, Saskatchewan, to White Star, Saskatchewan, and from Speers Junction (near White Star) to end of the line at Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.
OmniTRAX expanded its presence in the American Southeast in 2004 by purchasing the Georgia and Florida Railnet (renamed the Georgia and Florida Railway) from North American RailNet. It also leased the terminal switching Fulton County Railway (based in Atlanta), and the Alabama and Tennessee River Railway in Alabama. It purchased both lines outright in 2018.
OmniTRAX made its first venture into Washington state when it purchased the BNSF Railway in January 2005. This route, shaped like an inverted capital "U", ran from Kettle Falls, Washington, north to the U.S.-Canadian border at Laurier, Washington, crossed the border to reach Cascade City, British Columbia, traveled west to Almond Gardens, then south to cross the border to follow Washington State Route 21 to Republic, Washington. Another of line (from Kettle Falls southeast to Chewelah, Washington, and from Kettle Falls northwest to Columbia Gardens, British Columbia) was leased from BNSF. The Kettle Falls International Railway was created to run on these lines.
OmniTRAX completed its purchase of all of North American Railnet's assets in April 2005 when it purchased the Nebraska Kansas Colorado Railway and the Illinois Railway.
OmniTRAX moved into California for the first time in 2011 when it purchased the Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad, a short line linking several industrial customers to the Port of Stockton, the Union Pacific, and the BNSF.
The company expanded its operations in Oklahoma in June 2014 when it purchased the Sand Springs Railway based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In September 2016, it acquired the former Gerdau steel mill site. The company said it would work with other Broe Co. subsidiaries to build residential, retail, industrial, logistics, and transportation buildings and facilities there.
OmniTRAX proposed buying Iowa Pacific Holdings' Sanford Lake Branch track (also known as the Saratoga-North Creek Railway), which ran from North Creek, New York, to Tahawus, New York, in August 2019. The firm also proposed buying track owned by Warren County which ran from North Creek to Corinth, New York. This would allow OmniTRAX to make additional connections with Class I railroads. Local residents, concerned that OmniTRAX would permit its track to be used for the storage of oil tank cars, opposed the sale. Warren County officials did not want to sell their track for fear of losing control over the uses to which it could be put. After a year of public debate, OmniTRAX declined to pursue both deals.
In July 2019, OmniTRAX purchased the Winchester and Western Railroad's Virginia Division from Covia Holdings for $105 million. The division included of track in western Virginia and of track in New Jersey. The purchase was subject to review and approval by the Surface Transportation Board, a federal agency. It was completed in September 2019.
In 1997 the Canadian National Railway sold the Port of Churchill and accompanying rail line to OmniTRAX as part of the privatization of CN. OmniTRAX operated the railway for the ensuing two decades, shipping mostly wheat to the Port of Churchill on behalf of the Canadian Wheat Board.
In June 2017, OmniTRAX suspended service on the Churchill rail line after severe flooding washed out the line in multiple locations.
OmniTRAX refused to repair the railway, claiming it was not economically feasible. The company claimed that due to the closure of the Canadian Wheat Board in 2008, it was no longer economical to operate the line or the Port of Churchill. As part of a 2008 contract between the Federal Government and OmniTRAX, the Government of Canada had given OmniTRAX C$20 million for upgrades to both the Railway and Port with the agreement that the company would match the funds. However, the contract stipulated that OmniTRAX could not reduce or abandon service on the line, or the funding would be required to be returned.
On October 13, 2017, Minister of Natural Resources Jim Carr issued a notice of default to OmniTRAX, advising the company that they had 30 days to make repairs to the rail line or face default on the agreement. On November 14, the Federal Government issued a notice of default against OmniTRAX claiming C$18 million, plus interest. In response, the company filed a complaint through NAFTA Chapter 11 claiming the Canadian Federal Government had sabotaged efforts to repair and transfer ownership of the railway.
In June of 2018 OmnitTRAX was ordered by federal regulators to repair the tracks. On August 31, 2018 the port and rail line were sold to Arctic Gateway Group, a consortium of investors including First Nations, local governments, financial holding companies, and grain producers.
In 2003, OmniTRAX was one of three companies bidding for BC Rail, a province-owned railroad in British Columbia then being privatized by the government. OmniTRAX officials began communicating with provincial officials in 2001, urging the privatization of the railroad. Although the British Columbia Liberal Party had pledged during 2001 elections not to sell the road, OmniTRAX officials continued to urge them to do so in 2002.
BC Rail officials recommended the privatization of the line in the fall of 2002. OmniTRAX partnered with BNSF to bid on the line.
OmniTRAX hired Pilothouse Communications, a Victoria-based lobbyist firm, to represent its interests. Pilothouse lobbyist Erik Bornmann bribed two ministerial aides from 2001 to 2003 with cash and gifts in exchange for confidential government documents that were then passed to OmniTRAX. Brian Kieran, Pilothouse's owner, claimed he advised OmniTRAX against offering one a gift (a trip to Denver to see a football game), but OmniTRAX officials disregarded his advice. Law enforcement officials never charged OmniTRAX with any wrongdoing in regards to the bribery effort or the receipt of stolen documents.
OmniTRAX ultimately bid C$710 million for BC Rail, a C$4 million increase over its initial second-round bid. Although Crown prosecutors believed the improved OmniTRAX bid was related to its receipt of leaked documents, court testimony indicated that the government's bid evaluation team thought the improved offer was merely an attempt to win the auction. OmniTRAX dropped out of the auction (police later alleged, based on wiretap information) after its officials came to believe that the provincial government had predetermined Canadian National Railway to be the successful bidder. David Basi, an aide to BC Finance Minister Gary Collins, then advised Collins to arrange an unnamed "consolation prize" for OmniTRAX.
In December 2003, Pat Broe and Dwight Johnson (a vice president of The Broe Group) had dinner at an exclusive Vancouver restaurant with Collins. Their conversation allegedly regarded the sale of a BC Rail spur line to OmniTRAX. The sale of the spur was cancelled after law enforcement officials revealed to Collins that the sale had been compromised due to the disclosure of confidential government information. Law enforcement officials investigated the dinner meeting, but never charged Broe, Johnson, or Collins with wrongdoing. OmniTRAX strongly asserted it had committed no ethical or legal infractions regarding the meeting.
OmniTRAX is subsidiary of The Broe Group, a company with an array of financial interests in energy development, healthcare technology, real estate, transportation, and other industries. As of August 2019, OmniTRAX operated 21 rail lines, making it one of the largest privately-owned rail transportation companies in the United States.
OmniTRAX's corporate strategy is to identify companies or groups of companies transporting cargo but not using railroads to do so. It then looks for unused or under-used rail opportunities nearby to serve these customers. Commodities which the company transports include aggregate, chemicals, clay, grain, and stone. OmniTRAX railroads often connect to Class I railroads.
OmniTRAX also operates ports, terminals, and multimodal transhipment facilities. It sometimes engages (alone or in concert with other Broe Group companies) in industrial development.
TransCANADA Switching Services (TSS) was formed by OmniTRAX in 1996. In 1997, TSS won a contract to provide switching services at the newly-opened Deltaport, the Port of Vancouver's new container shipping facility. OmniTRAX ceased to provide services at Deltaport in July 2008.
OmniTRAX Logistics Services (OLS) is a subsidiary of OmniTRAX that provides materials handling. In 2016, OLS purchased the assets of Terracor Group, a firm that provided ultra-fine-grain sand for hydraulic fracturing purposes. These included three "frac sand" facilities (in Montana and Texas) and the mineral rights to a frac sand mine in Wisconsin. OmniTRAX intended to supply frac sand to Broe Group energy development companies as well as to other customers in Bakken Formation of Manitoba, Montana, North Dakota,
and Saskatchewan; the Eagle Ford Shale of Texas; and the Permian Basin of New Mexico and Texas. OmniTRAX's attempt to open the Wisconsin mine led to a lawsuit in February 2017 by local residents who feared the noise, light, and traffic associated with the mine. Although OmniTRAX won a state permit to fill in of wetland as part of a proposed railroad associated with the mine, a state court permitted the lawsuit to proceed. In May 2019, OmniTRAX said it had abandoned the mine project.
OmniTRAX Sand Holdings is a subsidiary of OmniTRAX which provides transportation options for frac sand and ceramics. It is a joint venture of OmniTRAX and Arrows Up, a bulk materials storage and transportation company. The joint venture is marketing the Arrows Up Jumbo Bin, a container which can be used by rail or trucks that is capable of holding up to of frac sand or ceramic material. The bin can be used for transportation or storage, and contains its own dust suppression features.
The Utah Central Railway is a shortline railroad serving Ogden, Utah and surrounding areas. It interchanges with the Union Pacific Railroad (UP), as well as with BNSF Railway trains running over the UP via trackage rights. The company began operations in 1992 as a private switching railroad, and became a common carrier in 1995. It expanded operations in 2001 and 2004, and the Patriot Rail Corporation gained control in January 2008.
At one point the UCRY leased a 44-ton GE diesel and class CA-11 caboose from the Utah State Railroad Museum in Ogden, Utah. Both the locomotive and caboose were repainted in UCRY colors. When returned to the museum, the locomotive sat idle for several years.