Iowa Interstate Railroad

From Railroad Depot

Iowa Interstate Railroad

System map constructed from the IAIS web site.
Reporting marks	IAIS
Locale	Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska
Dates of operation	1984 – present
Headquarters	Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Freshly Painted GP38-2.

The Iowa Interstate Railroad (AAR reporting marks IAIS) is a Class II Railroad operating in the central United States. The railroad is owned by Railroad Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The railroad was formed on November 2, 1984, using former Rock Island Railroad tracks between Chicago, Illinois, and Omaha, Nebraska. It was in partnership with real estate firm Heartland Rail Corporation that the IAIS was able to operate. Heartland purchased the right-of-way and infrastructure for $31 million (of which, $15 million was a loan from the Iowa Railway Finance Authority), and then leased it to IAIS for operations.

The railroad's mainline is roughly a straight line between these two terminal cities with a branch line connecting Bureau, Illinois to Peoria, Illinois. In recognition of the railroad's Rock Island Railroad heritage, the IAIS logo uses a shape similar to the original railroad's logo.

Operations on the railroad are controlled by track warrants rather than signals. When the IAIS took control of the track, the signal system was already damaged beyond repair, so the trains were operated by warrant control. A centralized traffic control system has yet to be installed on the railroad's mainline.

Beginning in the mid 1990s, the IAIS mainline has been identified as a potential route for high speed passenger train service between Wyanet, Illinois (where the IAIS connects to the BNSF Railway), the Quad Cities and Iowa City, Iowa, as part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MRRI). The ultimate goal of the MRRI is to establish passenger train routes in a hub-and-spoke formation with Chicago as the hub that allow for speeds up to and above 110 miles per hour|mph. However, estimates made in 2003 to upgrade the IAIS mainline to allow passenger train speeds of 79 mph (127 km/h) between Wyanet and Iowa City have ranged as high as $61.7 million, nearly double the right of way's initial purchase price from 1984.

The IAIS and the railroad infrastructure were purchased from Heartland by Railroad Development Corporation in 2003.

IAIS subsidiary Rail Traffic Control provides consulting services for dispatching and operating small- to medium-sized railroads worldwide.

In 2004, IAIS was awarded the Gold Harriman Award for its safe operational record.

[edit] Expansion

February 2rd, 2006: Leases 32 miles of track from CSX Transportation between Utica, Illinois and Henry, Illinois.
July 21st, 2006: Completed the purchase of the Great Western Railway of Iowa, a terminal switching carrier in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
December 21st, 2006: Purchased the Lincoln & Southern Railroad, a stock only railroad from Henry, Illinois to Peoria, Illinois.

[edit] References

Association of American Railroads (February 2005), Iowa Interstate Railroad is the February Featured Railroad.
Bi-State Regional Rail Commission (2003), Midwest Rail Initiative. Details of the passenger rail studies.
Botting, Laura, Moline Dispatch Publishing Co. (1999), Iowa Interstate picks up pieces. Details of the purchase from Rock Island and Miller's predecessor as president.
Iowa Department of Rail, Railroad Profiles - Iowa Interstate Railroad Ltd. (IAIS). Overview of the railroad, mention of RDC purchase year.
Iowa Interstate Railroad, About IAIS.
Iowa Interstate Railroad (July 15, 2004), Iowa Interstate Announces Executive Appointment (PDF).
Iowa Interstate Railroad (June 20, 2002), Iowa Interstate Announces Senior Management Changes (PDF). Announced Roy's retirement from the presidency.
IAIS Railfan's Guide. Details the current operations of the railroad.