Respondek Railroad is an United States railroad company based in Boonville, Indiana.
Hystory
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In 1986, the brothers Terry and Jerry Respondek acquired two parked shunting locomotives. After having worked them up, they were able to acquire a track locomotive by selling a locomotive. In 1987, the two formed the Respondek Corporation and took over the factory traffic for the Amoco Oil Refinery in Wood River, Illinois . In 1990, the factory traffic in the Royal Dutch Shell oil refinery was also taken over in this place. On October 28, 1994, the operation was added to the Semo Port Railroad. In 1998, the two brothers separated. Jerry Respondek founded Motive Rail and took over the operation of the Semo Port Railroad. Terry Respondek became the sole owner of Respondek Railroad.
From 1998 to 2000 was the shunting in the coal mine "Arch of Illinois" at Percy, Illinois. In 1999, the factory traffic of a chemical company was taken over by GE Plastics (today Sabic) in Burkville, Alabama. In September 2000, factory traffic followed at the GE Plastics plant in Mount Vernon, Indiana. On August 3, 1999, Respondek Railroad began operating a 2.4-kilometer St. Louis route on behalf of the Bi-State Development Agency of the Missouri-Illinois Metropolitan District. From August 2006 to the end of 2008, the company was operated by the subsidiary Squaw Creek Southern Railroad.
In 2000, the company was commissioned to operate the Fredonia Valley Railroad on a 24-kilometer line between Princeton, Kentucky, to a quarry at Fredonia. In the same year, the company took over shunting operations at an industrial estate in Litchfield, Illinois. Since November 2011, this operation has been carried out by the Respondek subsidiary Illini Terminal Railroad. In April 2001, Respondek Railroad leased several parking yards with a total capacity of around 700 freight cars. At the same time they founded the subsidiary Squaw Creek Southern Railroad to operate the 35-kilometer route between Lynnville and Yankeetown in Warwick County, Indiana.
In 2002, the company expanded its offer and now also offers the maintenance of track systems. The first customer for this service was the Alcoa power plant in Newburgh, Indiana. The following year, Respondek Railroad enters the freight car repair market. For this, the company owns a repair shop at Evansville, Indiana. In 2004, Respondek Railroad took over the shunting for the Tri-City Regional Port District in Granite City, Illinois, since 2010 under the name Port Harbor Railroad.[1]
From August 2005, the company leased for 20 years from the CSX Transportation the railway line from Richmond, Indiana to Fernald, Ohio. For the operation of the Indiana Eastern Railroad was founded. Since 2006, the factory traffic for the Friendsville coal mine at Mount Carmel, Illinois is carried out. 2007 took over the shunting work at the Alcoa power plant in Newburgh, Indiana. In 2008, the Squaw Valley Railroad leased the 35-kilometer Central of Georgia Railroad line between Madison and Shady Dale.[2]
Locomotives
editIn November 2011, Respondek Railroad had 20 locomotives of the types EMD SD38-2, EMD SW9, EMD SW1200, EMD GP7, EMD SD9 IC GP10, IC GP8, EMD SD40-2, GE B23-7 and EMD SD40T-2.[3]