(The following report by Shane Samuels appeared on the Chetek Alert website on May 27.)
CHETEK, Wisc. — A Minnesota rail company is taking over service on the rail lines in the area with the hopes of creating new industry and expanding existing industry.
Progressive Rail of Lakeville, Minn., has formed a subsidiary company, Wisconsin Northern Railroad, that is in the process of leasing and purchasing rail lines in the area owned by Canadian National and Union Pacific.
Wisconsin Northern will reopen the line from Chetek to Cameron and will also take over the line from Cameron into Rice Lake, as well as from Cameron into Barron, with intentions of continuing service in the future from Barron to Almena.
Tim Eklund, president of Wisconsin Northern, said business arrangements are being finalized between his company, UP, Canadian National, and the Wisconsin West Rail Transit Authority, a group formed by Barron and Chippewa county businesses and officials.
WWRTA was formed in 2001 when Canadian National announced it would be abandoning several little-used railways in the area. Area businesses still using the railways, including Automated Building Components of Chetek, Jennie-O Turkey Store, Bloomer Plastic, Bell Lumber and Pole, Birchwood Manufacturing, Shadow Plastics, and Besse Forest Products, joined together with county development officials in an attempt to continue rail service to the area.
Eklund said all four parties agree in principle about the goals of WN’s service to Barron and Chippewa counties, but paperwork and agreements still need to be finalized. He said he hopes to be operating between Aug. 1 and Labor Day this year.
Engineers, conductors needed
In the arrangement, UP will transfer cars to WN at a switching station just north of Chippewa Falls. Trains will then transport materials to Chetek, Rice Lake, and Barron.
The immediate impact on the area will include several job openings.
“The railroad will bring a handful of new jobs open to the people of Barron and Chippewa counties,” Eklund mentioned. Engineers and conductors will immediately be needed to operate trains in the two counties, Eklund added.
As WN’s presence grows, Eklund continued, more jobs will become available, including sales and marketing, administrative, warehousing, trucking, manufacturing and distributing positions, as businesses develop along the rail line.
Progressive Rail operates 100 miles of railroad in the southern half of the Twin Cities, Eklund explained. He describes the company as a business developer that happens to use rail to establish many of its business opportunities. Eklund said Progressive has been responsible for attracting numerous industries and 200-400 job opportunities in the Twin Cities area. He added that WN already has a number of prospective customers looking at building or acquiring sites along the rail corridor from Chippewa Falls to Rice Lake.
Expansion coincides with railway
ABC, which has undergone a large expansion in the last year, should reap the benefits of continued service. They receive approximately 165 cars per year, according to Dave Ziarnik, who represents the company on the WWRTA board. It’s a small number of cars considering ABC lies at the end of the UP line. The cars bring lumber, mostly from British Columbia, to the plant, and the finished product is shipped out on the company’s trucks. Ziarnik said his company’s expansion seemed plausible with the prospect of continued rail service.
“It makes you nervous to be on the end of the line, and that was us for many years,” Ziarnik commented. “This certainly solidifies our position to be able to count on the rail line.”
ABC added 12,500 feet onto its roof plant, and approximately doubled the size of its floor plant. ABC will also have hired 30 additional employees when its expansion is complete, according to Ziarnik.
Jennie-O Turkey Store, one of the largest employers in the county, will also benefit from WN’s purchase of the railway, according to feed ingredient purchasing manager Fran Felber. Felber also chairs the WWRTA board.
Jennie-O receives feed ingredients shipped on about 800 rail cars per year, according to Felber. The feed stuffs come to the Barron plant from locations as far away as 200 miles.
With rising fuel costs, the possibility of discontinued rail service and more reliance on trucking was unsettling for company executives, Felber noted.
“To be competitive in the industry, we need to have multiple sources of transportation,” Felber explained. “Therefore, we have a vested interest in this.”
County Board supervisor Merlin Kreger, WWRTA treasurer, says the use of rail dramatically eases the stress that could be placed on county roads. For example, up to 4,512 semi-tractor trailer movements would be needed to make up for the number of railcars Jennie-O Turkey Store utilizes at its plant. About 1,912 highway movements would be needed to make up for ABC’s railcar use.
Kreger added that the rail is vital to keep county industries in business.
“How many jobs have we saved by retaining rail in this area?” Kreger asked.
Kreger said he is amazed at the size and number of businesses considering moving into the area due to WN’s purchase of the like. Due to negotiations taking place, he was unable to name the businesses at this time. One primary location available for purchase in Chetek is the old Core Products building, Kreger noted.
Track tune-up
Felber said that when the WWRTA formed three years ago, the organization’s specific goals included receiving continued rail service a minimum of three days per week. WN can easily meet those demands, he added.
Eklund said the tracks along the Barron and Chippewa county lines will need some updating and refurbishing. Trains haven’t run on the Chetek to Cameron line in about 10 years, he said, and since some of the tracks have seen little use, they haven’t received proper maintenance over the years.
Eklund said WN sees the Chippewa Falls to Rice Lake corridor as an outstanding business opportunity for his company. The excellent highway infrastructure, namely Highways 53 and 8, provide easy transportation access, and there are a number of communities with successful industries already located along the railway that will benefit from rail service.
“The Wisconsin development climate is probably better than Minnesota,” Eklund added, with higher land and labor prices in his company’s home state.
“We think it’s going to be a great place to expand our business,” Eklund concluded.