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News Archives
All news stories include source references and are listed by order of date. NOTICE: These articles are copyrighted with other news agencies! As withh all news articles in Newsline, proper credit is given to the authors and sources.
ARTICLE TITLE
DATE RELEASED
Ameren Buyer of RR
October 15, 1999
UP Sells Missouri Rail Line
October 11, 1999
Railroad Returns to Small-Towns
October 10, 1999
Union Pacific Sells RI Line
October 7, 1999
Talks Resume on Revivng Rock Island
October 7, 1999
Missouri Central Deal Back On?
October 5, 1999
Missouri Central Sueing Union Pacific
July 3, 1999
Group Sues For Rock Island Track
July 1, 1999
Metrolink Plans May Include MCRR
July 1, 1999
Companies Vie For Scenic Railroad Line
June 28, 1999
Negotiations At Dissapointing Impasse
May 23, 1999
MCRR Saga Intensifies, Senate Steps In
May 2, 1999
MCRR Plans Not Dead Yet
April 18, 1999
UP-MCRR Showdown Continues
April 14, 1999
Union Pacific Says "NO" Again
April 11, 1999
Missouri Central Deal For Ex-RI Fails
February 14, 1999
Union Pacific Will Not Sell Line
February 14, 1999
Official Word From Union Pacific
February 12, 1999

  • Ameren Corp. Surprise Purchaser of Railroad
    By Adam Goodman Of The
    St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    Utility giant Ameren Corp. of St. Louis is the surprise buyer of Missouri's newest railroad.

    Ameren financed last week's purchase of the mostly abandoned Rock Island railroad line by an Omaha, Neb., entrepreneur, according to documents the electric company filed Wednesday.

    Pending regulatory approval, an Ameren subsidiary will own 95 percent of the stock in the new railroad, Missouri Central Railroad Co.

    The line purchased from Union Pacific Railroad Co. connects Kansas City and St. Louis. It winds through numerous small towns and scenic country along the Missouri River and through the Ozarks.

    "This line runs through the heart of AmerenUE's service area and was in danger of being dismantled," explained Ameren spokeswoman Susan Gallagher. ". . .We are hoping that better service on the line will spur industrial development."

    Ameren officials hope improving the line will help bring more electrical demand from existing and new business customers, she said.

    Omaha computer consultant John Larkin is the former Union Pacific manager who has been seeking to buy the abandoned Rock Island line for three years. His partners at Ameren "understand the significance of transportation."

    How much Missouri Central paid for the old Rock Island line has not been disclosed. The purchase price had been set at $9.7 million under a previous agreement that collapsed in February. Businessman Tony Novelly had been the lead financier of that deal.

    Ameren already controls a tiny railroad in Southern Illinois. That 5-mile line, known as the Joppa and Eastern Railroad Co., transports coal shipments to an electric plant in Joppa, Ill., that Ameren and two other utilities own. Ameren is seeking permission from the Surface Transportation Board in Washington to allow it to control two railroads.

    The purchase requires no other regulatory approvals, Gallagher said. The acquisition also should have no impact on rates, because the investment is being made by an unregulated subsidiary, she said.

    Missouri Central this week began running trains for freight customers between St. Louis and Union, Mo. Union Pacific already had been doing so, but Missouri Central is offering more frequent service.

    Larkin says extending the service to points west of Union - places such as Owensville, Eldon, and Pleasant Hill - will depend on the demands of potential rail customers. He estimates restoring the entire 245-mile line would require at least $30 million.

    Ameren's Gallagher said the company has "no immediate plans" to rehab more of the line west of Union.

    One customer thrilled with Missouri Central's arrival is Rexam Containers in Union. The company, which makes plastic containers for the food-packaging industry, employs 150 people in a 160,000-square-foot plant. It gets 15 million pounds of resin a year shipped in by rail.

    Rob McCoy, president and general manager of the plant, has been dissatisfied with Union Pacific's infrequent service, and is worried about the line's future. He had put an expansion plan on hold.

    The Missouri Central line "is key to keeping this business in the community," McCoy said.

    On Tuesday, Rexam got its first delivery from Missouri Central. And its expansion is back on track.

  • Union Pacific Sells Section of Missouri Rail Line

    Omaha World-Herald, Neb., Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

    Oct. 8--Union Pacific Railroad said Thursday it has sold a 244-mile stretch of rail line in Missouri to the Missouri Central Railroad.

    The sale covers a segment running from west of St. Louis to southeast of Kansas City. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

    Union Pacific, based in Omaha, acquired the line in its 1996 merger with Southern Pacific Rail Corp. It said most of the line has not been used since the early 1980s, when Southern Pacific purchased the track from the bankrupt Rock Island Railroad. Southern Pacific later obtained permission to operate on a parallel line owned by Union Pacific and as a result did not use the old Rock Island line.

  • Railroad Group to Bring Freight Service Back to Small-Town Missouri

    By Adam Goodman, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    Oct. 8--A group headed by an Omaha entrepreneur on Thursday bought most of the old Rock Island Railroad line through Missouri.

    The group -- Missouri Central Railroad Co. -- says it hopes to bring freight service back to many of the small towns along a 245-mile route that runs from Maryland Heights to Pleasant Hill, Mo., outside Kansas City. Many of those towns haven't seen trains for 20 years.

    Terms of the transaction were not released Thursday. Missouri Central had agreed to pay $9.7 million for the line in a previous deal that fell apart earlier this year.

    Initially, Missouri Central will provide rail service for customers only as far west as Union, said John Larkin, Missouri Central's president.

    Union Pacific Railroad Co., which owned the old Rock Island line, has been providing some service along that eastern part of the route. Larkin says Missouri Central will offer more frequent service.

    Larkin said his company could start carrying freight as soon as employees inspect the track. Missouri Central's locomotive is being painted, but it has another in St. Louis on loan, he said.

    Running trains to all points west of Union would require an estimated $30 million or more of rehab work on the deteriorated line. Parts of the track have been paved over and at least one bridge has been removed.

    Larkin declined Thursday to provide specifics on those rehab plans. ``We will put money into it as the business develops,'' he said.

    The Rock Island line offers some of the most scenic views in the state, winding along the Missouri River and into the Ozarks. The line features spectacularly high bridges over the Gasconade and Osage rivers, as well as three tunnels, each more than 1,000 feet long.

    Union Pacific acquired the old Rock Island line in 1996 when it bought the Southern Pacific Railroad. Southern Pacific had bought bankrupt Rock Island in 1980.

    Reaching Thursday's agreement was no easy task. Union Pacific and Missouri Central had negotiated more than three years, with talks breaking off several times.

    Most recently, Union Pacific called off the deal in April after Missouri Central had missed several deadlines to raise money. Missouri Central sued Union Pacific in July to attempt to get the talks restarted. Negotiations resumed in August. As part of their agreement, Missouri Central on Thursday filed to dismiss its lawsuit.

    Although Larkin declined to provide details on his group's financing, he said businessman Tony Novelly was no longer involved.

    The Missouri Department of Natural Resources had hoped to use the abandoned Rock Island line to connect Kansas City to the Katy Trail, its 200-mile hiking-biking trail built on the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway. The Rock Island crosses the Katy at Windsor, Mo., between Sedalia and Clinton.

    Ron Kucera, the department's deputy director, said DNR officials previously talked with Larkin about the possibility of running a trail next to the railroad line between Windsor and Kansas City. ``We might be able to do something side by side,'' he said.

    (c) 1999, St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

  • Union Pacific Sells Section of Missouri RI Line

    Official Union Pacific Press Release

    OMAHA, October 7 -- Union Pacific Railroad announced today it has sold the central portion of the former Rock Island Line across central-Missouri to the Missouri Central Railroad.

    Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.

    The portion of the line Union Pacific sold to Missouri Central is 244 miles between Vigus, which is west of St. Louis near Chesterfield, to Pleasant Hill. Union Pacific will retain the ownership of the line between Kansas City to Pleasant Hill and Vigus to St. Louis. Missouri Central will be able to operate over those portions of the line through a trackage rights agreement.

    The Missouri Central will take over the line today.

    The line, locally known as the "Rock Island line", was acquired by Union Pacific as the result of the 1996 UP/Southern Pacific Railroad merger. Southern Pacific had purchased the line from the bankrupt Rock Island in the early 1980s to have a route between St. Louis and Kansas City. SP, however, obtained permission to operate over a parallel line owned by Union Pacific as a result of the merger between UP and Missouri Pacific Railroad in 1982. The line has not been used, except for about 80 miles between St. Louis and Owensville, since the early 1980s.

  • Talks Resume On Revivng Rock Island

    By Adam Goodman, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

    Trains may travel the old Rock Island Railroad line between St. Louis and Kansas City again after all.

    Union Pacific Railroad, which owns the abandoned line, is back at the negotiating table with a group that has tried to buy the route for the last two years.

    Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley said representatives of the seller and buyer could close a deal this week.

    Roger Warren, a Kansas City lawyer representing the potential buyer - Missouri Central Railroad Co. - confirmed the restarted talks, but said late Wednesday that he could not yet provide more details. "We are close and we are hopeful this will be completed soon," he said.

    A prior agreement fell apart in April after Union Pacific complained that Missouri Central had missed several deadlines to raise money. In July, Missouri Central sued Union Pacific in an attempt to force the railroad back to the table.

    The purchase price had been set in November 1997 at $9.7 million. In that deal, businessman Tony Novelly, who heads privately held Apex Oil Co., was to have financed most of the purchase. It is unclear whether Novelly, who also led the development of the village of St. Albans, is still involved.

    Missouri Central wants to buy 245 miles of track between Maryland Heights and Pleasant Hill, Mo., outside of Kansas City, and lease access rights to other Union Pacific routes on the St. Louis and Kansas City ends.

    Missouri Central is headed by John Larkin, a computer consultant in Omaha who once managed grain trains for Union Pacific. Larkin has said he wants to rebuild the line primarily as a freight carrier. He also envisions some passenger service.

    The Rock Island line runs south of the Missouri River and into the Ozarks through towns such as Labadie, Union, Owensville and Eldon. Union Pacific acquired it in 1996 as part of the purchase of Southern Pacific Railroad. Southern Pacific had bought bankrupt Rock Island in 1980.

    The line has drawn much attention from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, which hoped to use the abandoned railroad to connect Kansas City to the Katy Trail. That 200-mile hiking-biking trail - built on the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway - runs from St. Charles to Clinton, Mo. The Rock Island crosses the Katy at Windsor, between Sedalia and Clinton.