A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are categorized by operating revenue, and most shortline railroads fall into the Class III or Class II categorization defined by the Surface Transportation Board .
7-823: The Luzerne and Susquehanna Railway is a shortline railroad in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania . It both serves local traffic and connects to the Reading Blue Mountain and Northern Railroad in Pittston and to the Norfolk Southern Railway at three separate junctions. It operates a total of 55 miles of track in and around the Wyoming Valley in Luzerne County. When founded in 1994, the railway incorporated tracks from
14-653: A holding company for three shortline railroads in the Twin Tiers along with a disjunct shortline railroad in Mississippi . The line's tracks are owned by the Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority. The railroad was purchased by R.J. Corman Railroad Group on August 19, 2020. Shortline railroad At the beginning of the railroad age, nearly all railway lines were shortlines, locally chartered, financed and operated; as
21-416: A Class III is a railroad with an annual operating revenue of less than $ 28 million. In Canada , Transport Canada classifies shortline railroads as Class II . There are three kinds of shortlines in the U.S.: handling, switch, and ISS (Interline Settlement System). It was reported in 2009 that shortline railroads employ 20,000 people in the U.S., and own 30 percent of the nation's railroad tracks. About
28-440: A quarter of all U.S. rail freight travels at least a small part of its journey over a short-line railroad. An ever-growing number of shortline operators have been acquired by larger holding companies which own or lease railroad properties in many states, as well as internationally. For example, Genesee & Wyoming controls over 100 railroads in over 40 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces. A consequence of such consolidation
35-640: A variety of defunct railroads, including the Pocono Northeast Railroad, Lehigh Valley Railroad , and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad . Major commodities hauled by the Luzerne and Susquehanna include chemicals, packaging, building products, and food & beverage. The total number of cars transported in 2010 numbered nearly 4000. The Luzerne and Susquehanna Railway is headquartered at 25 Delphine Street in Owego, New York , as part of
42-542: The following reasons: In France, the equivalent of shortlines railroads are the opérateurs ferroviaires de proximité (local railways operators). Because of their small size and generally low revenues, the great majority of shortline railroads in the U.S. are classified by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) as Class III . As defined by the Surface Transportation Board (STB),
49-594: The railroad industry matured, local lines were merged or acquired to create longer mainline railroads. Especially since 1980 in the U.S. and 1990 in Canada, many shortlines have been established when larger railroad companies sold off or abandoned low-profit portions of their trackage. Shortline operators typically have lower labor, overhead and regulatory costs than Class I railroads and therefore are often able to operate profitable lines that lost money for their original owners. Shortlines generally exist for one or more of
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