Patriot Rail acquires rail-car repair shop in Virginia

Patriot Rail Co. L.L.C. has acquired the assets of Alderman Railcar Services Inc. through a bankruptcy process.

An Alderman facility in Keysville, Va., provides rail-car repair and cleaning services. The facility will operate under a new name, Blue Ridge Railcar Repair L.L.C., said Patriot Rail officials in a press release. The acquisition was finalized on Dec. 31 and the facility is scheduled to be fully operational in February.

A shortage of certified rail-car repair facilities across North America is projected over the next several years, Patriot Rail officials said. The company — which owns 13 short lines operating in 13 states — plans to use the facility as a foundation for best practices that will be used to establish and grow additional repair shops to address the shortage, they said.

"[The acquisition] supports Patriot Rail's long-term strategy to expand the mechanical repair services within the rail industry," said President and Chief Executive Officer John Fenton.

The Blue Ridge facility is located about 16 miles from a Norfolk Southern Railway interchange via the Buckingham Branch Railroad. The shop features 11,000 feet of track to enable up to 130 "repair in progress" cars to be stored at any time, Patriot Rail officials said.

The facility will be used to repair, clean and paint various cars, including box and flat cars, hoppers and gondolas.