BROOKINGS, S.D. — The Iowa Chicago & Eastern Railroad finalized its purchase of the I&M Rail Link early Tuesday, a wire service reported.
IC&E, a holding company of the Brookings, S.D.-based Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad, does not plan to change the way IMRL is operated, said Lynn Anderson, vice president of marketing of DM&E.
“We’re going to continue the operations pretty much as they are today,” Anderson said. “The vast majority of employees are former IMRL employees that will be running the railroad.”
DM&E’s rail business has been doing well and IC&E hopes to do the same on this new link, Anderson said.
“We are going to do everything we can to try to increase rail business on the IC&E Railroad,” he said.
Published reports have put the purchase price at $150 million.
IMRL has 1,400 miles of track in six states and revenue of $120 million a year. Its tracks connect the Twin Cities, Chicago and Kansas City.
DM&E, by comparison, has 1,100 miles of track and $60 million in revenue.
DM&E is in the process of upgrading its system to carry coal from Wyoming’s Powder River Basin across South Dakota and southern Minnesota, a project that has generated opposition in several communities along the way.