United Rail Purchases U S Rail Holdings for $4.5 Million
Short-line freight railroad U S Rail Holdings is being acquired by United Rail Inc. for $4.5 million. U S Rail Holdings, based in Toledo, Ohio, leases and operates about 72 miles of rail lines in the Kokomo, Ind., area providing transloading, private industrial railcar switching, track maintenance services, railcar repair and railcar storage.
“We plan to aggressively grow our presence in other markets,” United Rail CEO Michael Barron said. “With the inclusion of USRH under the United Rail Inc. umbrella, we now have a pathway to effectively reach those small railroad companies who wish to sell. Our plan is to consolidate the smaller and sometimes overlooked short lines and consolidate them under the United Rail Inc. banner.”
U S Rail’s Toledo offices will become the operations hub for the acquired companies into the United Rail network. United Rail said it has a pipeline of prospective companies and that it plans to have five railroads under its network by the end of the year.
“We have been looking for some time to find a new partner with the same vision as we have for the consolidation of these small short lines,”said Danielle Mitchell, U S Rail Holdings CEO and the new executive vice president of business development for United Rail.
