THE ‘FIRST AND LAST MILE’ TO THE CUSTOMER

As restaurants closed and people ramped up food purchases to eat at home during the coronavirus pandemic, the logistics of foodstuff and grocery distribution became more complex. Genesee & Wyoming’s California Northern Railroad (CFNR) plays an important role in keeping store shelves and freezers stocked.

While Genesee & Wyoming’s Columbus & Ohio River Rail Road (CUOH) has been an important part of transportation logistics for many customers across central and eastern Ohio for nearly two decades, the coronavirus pandemic further emphasized that role. Two customers served by the railroad produce essential products, including cleaners and disinfectants as well as pharmaceuticals and nutritional therapeutics.

An effective killer of viral and bacterial particles, hand sanitizer is critical in the fight against coronavirus. Genesee & Wyoming’s Indiana & Ohio Railway (IORY) played a key role in meeting increased demand for the product across the region by closely supporting its manufacturing.

With state orders to stay at home and social distancing guidelines in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, residential consumption of toilet paper, facial tissue and paper towel products increased dramatically – almost overnight – becoming one of the most sought-after essential items and stressing the industry’s delivery logistics. In fact, the Statista Consumer Market Outlook claims that toilet paper sales in the U.S. for March 2020 rose by nearly 60 percent compared to the same period in 2019.

In April 2021, after serving the Port of Savannah for 23 years, G&W’s Savannah Port Terminal Railroad (SAPT) agreed to broaden its services to include the Port’s new Mason Mega Rail Terminal. When completed, the Port’s size will grow by 15 track-miles, and the terminal will have the ability to build and receive six 10,000-foot trains simultaneously and cut transit times to the Midwest by 24 hours.

To many passerby, the scene was likely nothing more than mounds of dirt. But for Maryland Midland Railway (MMID), that dirt translated to big business. In 2017, Carrol County Bureau of Resource Management (CCBRM) approached MMID regarding a project to redirect Little Pipe Creek and create a drainage pond to improve waterflow and reduce downstream flooding in Westminster, Maryland. With the streambed directly adjacent to MMID’s mainline, the county sought shuttle service to haul 70,000 cubic yards of dirt to two locations roughly five miles west in New Windsor, Maryland – a site that was being repurposed into a baseball field and a farm that was undergoing regrading.

G&W’s Rail Link, Inc. subsidiary has served as the Port of Baton Rouge’s contracted industrial-switching provider for more than 20 years. And since 2015, Rail Link has played a pivotal role in getting wood pellets from Louisiana to the United Kingdom, where they are used as an alternative fuel source.

COVID’s crippling impact on the economy forced many railcar owners to seek storage space at levels rarely seen – to the tune of 390,000 cars stored across North America’s rail-freight network by the end of March 2020. Determined to make the best of an unprecedented situation and support its customers, G&W’s Kyle Railroad (KYLE) devised a plan that leveraged its 550-mile footprint across Kansas and eastern Colorado to satisfy the demand and help keep the rail industry’s network fluid.

On May 30, 2014, the newly created Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad (RCPE) completed its purchase of the west end of the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern (DM&E West) rail line. That evening, the 670-mile line, which runs from western Minnesota across South Dakota and into northern Nebraska and western Wyoming, shut down. On June 1, following 24 hours of safety training and orientation, the 177 newly hired employees commenced freight service on the RCPE.

Michael Peterson has been in the animal feed and pet food business for more than two decades. So the president and owner of ACJ International, a leading provider of high-quality ingredients for the manufacture of pet foods, speaks from experience when he describes the benefits of working with short line railroads.