Railroad Development Corporation

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The Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) is an American company that operates railways worldwide. The company is based in Pittsburgh . The business areas also include support in the privatization of state railway companies, in which the company acts as an investor and later ensures operations.

The company was formed in 1990 to save the ailing Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad . For this purpose she took over this company. The rescue attempt was however thwarted by the management of P&LE and the RDC stood there as a railway company without a railway. In 1991, Iowa shippers were looking for a new operator for the Iowa Interstate Railroad . RDC got involved and has meanwhile increased its initial 20% stake to 100%.

When many states in Central and Central America began to privatize their railways in the 1990s, the company entered this business area and in 2006 operated eight railways in America, Africa and Europe. In 2014 there were still five companies serving a route network of over 2,100 kilometers.

In 2006, the company caused a stir in the United States when it imported two Chinese QJ class steam locomotives . In the future, the locomotives were to be used in front of tourist trains.

Holdings

The Railroad Development Corporation operates or operated the following railway companies:

North and South America

Colombia

Ferrocarril del Pacífico (FDP)

North of Cali , from Palmira to Buenaventura on the Pacific, an almost 200 km long narrow-gauge line has been operated since 2012 together with a Colombian-Israeli investor group. In the long term, a switch to standard gauge and an expansion of the network by a further 300 kilometers are planned.

Peru

Ferrocarril Central Andino (FCCA)

Together with Peruvian investors, RDC operates this 591 km long railway line in Peru , which connects Huancayo and Cerro de Pasco with Lima and the Pacific port of Callao .

United States

Iowa Interstate Railroad (IAIS)

The Iowa Interstate Railroad is a regional railroad company based in Iowa, United States . It operates a 1,000 km stretch of the former Rock Island between Chicago and Omaha .

Europe

Belgium

Eurorail

In December 2014, RDC acquired a 25 percent stake in the Belgian logistics company Eurorail in order to strengthen the cooperation in the joint venture RégioRail , which has existed since 2012 .

Germany

The subsidiary RDC Deutschland GmbH (RDCD) was founded in Germany in 2009 and has had a 15-year license as a rail transport company since April 7, 2015 . The corporate structure was changed on April 1, 2016. RDC Germany acts as the holding company for the operating companies Hamburg-Köln Express GmbH, RDC Autozug Sylt GmbH and BTE Beteiligungsgesellschaft GmbH.

Hamburg-Cologne-Express GmbH (HKX)

The company was founded in 2009 together with Locomore and since then has operated as one of the few competitors of DB Fernverkehr long-distance passenger rail transport on the Hamburg – Cologne route. RDCD has a 75 percent stake in Hamburg-Köln-Express GmbH and covers its previous annual deficit . In 2017 the HKX ceased operations. The offer has been continued under the Flixtrain brand of Flixmobilty GmbH since 2018.

Eisenbahnouristikexpress GmbH (BTE)

RDCD has held a stake in Eisenbahnouristikexpress GmbH (BTE) via BTE Beteiligungs GmbH since 2016. BTE has been operating the long-distance motorail train from Hamburg to Lörrach since December 2016 . This is the second long-distance traffic engagement of the RDCD in Germany after the HKX.

RDC Autozug Sylt GmbH

In 2014, RDCD applied for timetable paths for the framework agreement for the timetable years 2016 to 2025 from DB Netz . With this, she wanted to secure long-term access from December 2015 for the lucrative car train traffic between Niebüll and Westerland , marketed by Deutsche Bahn as the “Sylt Shuttle” . For the period of the framework contract period, the RDCD was awarded six timetable routes in the direction of Sylt and five in the direction of Niebüll by DB Netz at the beginning of 2015. RDCD received a further seven framework agreements in autumn 2015 for the period 2017–2020. In addition, RDCD applied for a further 28 train paths for the 2015/16 network timetable . DB Fernverkehr also applied for paths for its car trains on this connection, so that there were conflicts between these registrations in the timetable. The DB was able to offer longer total routes by adding railcars. Thus it initially received these approximately 70 train paths, RDCD received another five train paths, so that a total of 16 train paths are available for the operation of the RDC Autozug Sylt.

The Deutsche Bahn trains consist of a car train part and a class 628 multiple unit , which is to run beyond Niebüll in part to Hamburg. RDCD appealed to the Federal Network Agency against this award decision .
It is also criticized that the railcars are often empty and block the already tight routes to Sylt. In addition, these vehicles consume an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 liters of diesel per day with no discernible sense for the passenger.

In January 2016, RDCD started test drives with a locomotive-hauled train ( MaK DE 2700 ) and single-story car transport wagons, which are to be replaced by 150 newly built car travel wagons by 2017 . In preparation for the start of operations, the subsidiary RDC Autozug Sylt GmbH was founded on February 5, 2016 . Regular operations started on October 18, 2016, initially with a limited offer.

Alpen-Sylt night express

Since July 4, 2020, the upside ALPS-SYLT Night Express as Liegewagenzug without car transport between Westerland / Sylt and Salzburg in Austria Hamburg , Frankfurt , Nuremberg and Munich . The train runs with two pairs of trains on the weekend until November 2, 2020. The couchette cars were taken over by Flixtrain , which initially stopped the rail business at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic . The pandemic was the reason for RDC to enter the climate-friendly night train business.

France

RégioRail

RégioRail is a freight transport company founded in 2012 with the Belgian logistics company Eurorail International, which is to expand on the European market from France.

Former holdings

Africa

Malawi

Central East African Railways

Under the name Central East African Railways, the RDC operated the former state railways of Malawi Railways and Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique Nord . The network covers around 1,700 kilometers (797 kilometers in Malawi, 918 kilometers in Mozambique). The investment was sold to the Insitec investor group on September 12, 2008 .

North and South America

Argentina

ALL Central

ALL Central was a 5690-kilometer broad-gauge rail network in Argentina between Buenos Aires and Mendoza operated together with América Latina Logística between 1993 and 2013 .

ALL Mesopotámica

ALL Mesopotámica was also a jointly with América Latina Logística operated between 1993 and 2013, 2740 kilometers of standard gauge network in Argentina north of Buenos Aires, in the area between the Paraná and Uruguay rivers .

Guatemala

Ferrovías Guatemala

RDC was a co-owner of the concession consortium to operate the 322-kilometer narrow-gauge railway that connects Guatemala City with the Atlantic, as well as the previously closed lines to Mexico and El Salvador. Operations on the line ceased on October 1, 2007 after the government deemed the concession agreement to be harmful. In July 2012, a Guatemalan court ruled that RDC is entitled to compensation if, in return, participation is waived.

Europe

Estonia

Eesti Raudtee

The RDC was part of the consortium that the Estonian freight company had operated since privatization. The investment was sold in January 2007.

References

  1. ↑ a b Company Overview. Railroad Development Corporation, 2014, accessed December 20, 2014 .
  2. ^ Colombia: Ferrocarril del Pacífico. Railroad Development Corporation, 2013, accessed December 20, 2014 .
  3. ↑ RDC invests in Eurorail. (PDF) Railroad Development Corporation, January 12, 2015, accessed January 13, 2015 (English, French).
  4. ↑ a b Wrestling for the Sylt Shuttle . In: Bahn-Report . tape 33 , no. 195 , May 1, 2015, ISSN  0178-4528 , p. 15 ( website [accessed May 9, 2015]).
  5. ↑ Press release at newstix.de from November 1st, 2009
  6. ↑ Annual financial statements as of December 31, 2013. Federal Gazette , January 20, 2015, accessed on August 22, 2015 .
  7. ↑ http://www.wn.de/Muensterland/2952844-Alle-Raeder-haben-still-Eisenbahnunternehmen-HKX-stell-den-Betrieb-vorerst-ein
  8. ↑ RP ONLINE: Cologne-Hamburg route: Flixtrain starts in March - what you need to know. Retrieved May 14, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Publication in the register portal of the federal states, HRB 87061. Cologne District Court, March 15, 2016, accessed on December 18, 2016 .
  10. ↑ DB Netz: “Registration of framework contracts” ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed June 1, 2015 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / fahrweg.dbnetze.com
  11. ^ Kerstin Schwenn: Competition for Deutsche Bahn. American private railway wants to operate Sylt-Autozug. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , October 8, 2014, accessed December 20, 2014 .
  12. ↑ Sylter Rundschau: SyltShuttle conflict delayed train schedule
  13. ↑ From spring 2016: The AUTOZUG Sylt from RDC. RDC Germany, January 2016, accessed February 7, 2016 .
  14. ↑ Jürgen Jacobsen: Sylt-Shuttle: Two providers - many open questions , ndr.de, May 5, 2015, accessed on June 1, 2015.
  15. ↑ RDC founds its own RDC AUTOZUG Sylt GmbH. RDC Germany, February 5, 2016, accessed February 7, 2016 .
  16. ^ Rail competitor: First RDC car train leaves Sylt , NDR, October 18, 2016, accessed on October 19, 2016.
  17. ↑ ALPEN-SYLT night express timetable. RDC Germany, July 2020, accessed on July 10, 2020 .
  18. ↑ With the night express from Sylt to Salzburg. Norddeutscher Rundfunk , July 6, 2020, accessed on July 10, 2020 .
  19. ↑ France RegioRail. Railroad Development Corporation, April 5, 2014, accessed May 23, 2014 .
  20. ^ Railway Gazette International: July 6, 2012: RDC wins case in Guatemala railway dispute

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