Is it possible to start a railroad?

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this so if you feel it should go somewhere else feel free to move it but I was wondering if starting a railroad these days is even possible. What do you think?

Unlikely. Best bet is to take something over that currently exists, or resurrect one that is out of service...assuming you can find customers.

Dave Becker

Well, it's more likely you'd work in reverse - identify, collaborate with, or be a company that is planning a large scale facility that can make use of rail freight such as a new mine, an electric steel mini-mill, or (very likely) a transfer station for C&D/MSW - by necessity these would be short lines (or perhaps even captive lines, as in minehead to power plant rail-loop), but they would be new railroads (ladies & gentlement, I present Long Island's newest railroad, the Suffolk & Southern - I love the exasperated tone the STB seems to have in that document concerning people filing notices of exemption for all sorts of odd reasons, and their bafflement at whether Suffolk & Southern plans to run trains over that 10,000 feet of new track or not, and even if that track exists : Actually, I guess in a week we'll find out if Southern & Suffolk will still exist. Still, that filing gives you an idea of the kinds of reviews and paperwork you'd need to start a new short line).
Now, starting a new Class I in North America... I dunno - DM&E is having an heck of a time getting financing for their Powder River expansion, and that projects proven to have interested customers (maybe not enough to justify the expansion). ROW acquistion would be dang expensive, and persuading enough customers to use your service would be a nightmare.
So...I can see it be possible to start new Class III shortlines to serve a particular customer or group of customers, which would then interchange with other railroads, but a brand new Class I...hard to conceive of...

If you have enough money, anything is possible. Most rail routes were built 100 years ago or more, before we had environmental impact statements and things like that. The only "new" railroad built in the last 50 years were the lines leading into Power River Basin. Those were built by existing railroad companies with lots of capital. The closest thing you have to new rail construction today are the new light rail lines that are being built.

If you're talking about starting your own railroad company to operate an existing piece of track, that's much more feasible.

-otto-

The railroads were the first great concentrations of private capital other than the canals; as such, they could not avoid governmental interference and regulation.

With the development of the concept of a public utility, new entrepreneurs could not enter the rail industry without official sanction by the state, and this was granted only under very special circumstances. By the same standard, over-regulation prevented the railroads from competing to the fullest extent possible with the new modes of carriage that developed after the First World War.

But what goes around comes around, and economic pressures, particularly in the area of fuel efficiency, have again made the rail industry copmpetitive. The vast majority of the results, however, have been on the fringes of the industry, particularly in the sale of marginal lines to independent operators by the few remaining Class I's.

The one possibility this writer can envision, given continued development of favorable circumstances, might be the emergence of new carriers dedicated solely to the movement of large shipments of bulk commodities at slower speeds, in a scenario more competitive with the barge operators than the motor carriers.

The area between the two major mountain ranges is both relatively flat and home to a large number of abandoned railroad grades. The political climate within these states is also more receptive to entrepreneurship than the NIMBY-dominated coastal states.

Unlikely? Yes, but given enough time and the proper economic circumstances, anything is possible.

It could happen! (Judy Tenuta)

It is very possible to start a railroad. You will be small to start with.


The major railroads are selling off their industry rights all the time.

Lots of companies are making an existence on less than 5 miles of track.


Imagine an old industrial complex, the main industry closes and car volumes go from 40 a day to 5. The railroad is gonna sell this. Even at 40 they have been known to sell.

They will place the track up for bid, and thats where you would come in.

Make your offer for the 99 year lease, few hundred thousand bucks and you are in. The cars for the industry will be dropped off by the railroad on a track of your choosing. They will drop off and also pickup what you have released.

Now you need to lease a locomotive. EDM or FURX are your best bets.

Now work out a deal with this major railroad to get your locomotive serviced, typically not hard to work out, just costly. But you probally want to do this, locomotives can be finicky and if yours breaks you are SOL.


Crews... You could be a general manager and hire a crew, or you could follow in the example of many other small railroads, CEO is also the engineer and chief track maintainer. Now all you need is a couple brakemen. Scab brakemen run about $15 an hour. Or you could go Union and pay $25 an hour.


With 3 employees, a leased locomotive, servicing costs and fuel you might make a few hundred thousand bucks a year.

Its a good deal if you have the capitol. Just make sure the industry's you are courting dont go tits up.