Chalich promoted to president of Northern Plains Railroad, Northern Plains Rail Services

The Northern Plains group of companies has appointed Jesse Chalich president of Northern Plains Rail Services (NPRS) and Northern Plains Railroad (NPR).

Chalich most recently was executive vice president of NPR and NPRS. He began his career in 1997 at NPR as a conductor and since has held several management positions, including responsibility for both marketing and operations. Earlier this year, Progressive Railroading named Chalich one of its 20 "Rising Stars" for 2014.

"We’ve made some adjustments to reflect the demand we have for our third-party services such as track construction and maintenance, car repair, and industrial switching," said Northern Plains Chairman Gregg Haug in a press release. "As a result, we are well positioned to work with our clients to meet their needs, and grow our business in Minnesota, North Dakota and western Canada."

In addition, NPRS has appointed Jerry Hegstrom manager of track maintenance and construction, focusing entirely on the contracting division.

"Jerry has previously split his duties between our Northern Plains Railroad and our contracting division," said Chalich. "We are pleased that he has taken on the challenge of leading the continued growth of our rail contracting group."

In addition, Northern Plains has dedicated a marketing and sales resource to NPRS and recently appointed Mike Bazan to lead marketing and sales efforts. Bazan will report to Hegstrom.

Northern Plains also announced that NPR has installed Ben Liden as roadmaster. He will manage maintenance-of-way functions for NPR’s 330-mile network in Minnesota and North Dakota.

During the past few months, NPR has improved service for grain shippers, said Chalich.

"We have experienced excellent interchange and operational coordination with Canadian Pacific, and as a result our grain shippers have seen very consistent movement of freight," he said. "With a continued focus on safety and delivering quality service, the NPR team is confident we can meet the challenges of winter ahead."