Rochester & Erie continues to ramp up traffic, track improvements 

By Jeff Stagl, Managing Editor 

This month, Rochester & Erie Railway LLC (RER) will mark its second year of operation. And the Indiana short line is positioning itself to notch some other accomplishments by year’s end — namely, more traffic and more bolstered track. 

RER is the contracted operator of the Fulton County Railroad (FC), which manages about 11 miles of track running from Rochester to Argos, Indiana. FC owns all the track and related infrastructure. RER interchanges with Norfolk Southern Railway in Argos. 

About three years ago, Rochester Iron & Metal Inc. President Jason Grube purchased the line from the Zent family, which had acquired it from NS in the 1990s. 

Grube wanted to grow traffic on the short line, which at the time was operated by the Elkhart and Western Railroad, but there was a long list of track maintenance needs that had been deferred for many years. So, Grube decided it was time to start his own railroad to advance his objectives, says RER Chief Commercial Officer Eric Thurlow. 

The Rochester & Erie — which launched operations in April 2023 — is developing a transloading facility in Rochester with Transload Advantage LLC. Rochester & Erie Railway LLC

Enter three partners and the formation of RER, which launched operations in April 2023. The short line is equally owned by Grube, Thurlow, RER Chief Operating Officer James Reiner and RER Chief Engineer Corey Tumpane.  

Thurlow and Reiner each have more than 20 years of railroading experience, while Tumpane has more than 15 years of rail industry experience. Thurlow previously held various management and operating roles with CN, NS, Genesse & Wyoming Inc., Watco, Ann Arbor Railroad and Maryland Midland Railway; Reiner had spent 24 years at NS in a number of positions and started his own financial services business; and Tumpane had served NS for nearly seven years and the Chicago Transit Authority for more than eight years in various maintenance-of-way capacities. 

RER currently offers rail transportation, rail-car storage, transloading and industrial development services. The short line is developing a transload facility in Rochester with Transload Advantage LLC, marketing more than 100 rail-car spots and promoting a 66,500-square-foot industrial building in Rochester that’s available for sale or lease. 

It took about six months to get RER up and running, says Thurlow. The short line started with two customers: Rochester Iron & Metal and Prairie Mills Products LLC, which operates a facility in Rochester that receives corn and ships out corn meal. 

Since then, RER has added Reagent Chemical as a rail-car storage customer and Transload Advantage as a business partner. The transload facility under development will handle all types of commodities, such as lumber, containerized waste and steel, says Thurlow. 

“In 2025, we want to get the transload facility cranking,” he says. 

After that, a development of another kind could pay off beyond RER’s interchange with NS in Argus. 

“In a year, we hope to do a project that would connect [RER] to other Class Is,” says Thurlow, declining to provide further details. 

In the meantime, the short line continues to target more infrastructure improvements to address the deferred track maintenance. RER purchased a tie crane, regulator and other equipment to install new ties, and pursued state grants to help pay for tie replacements, says Thurlow. So far, about 5,000 ties have been replaced and another 2,500 new ties will be installed later this year. 

“We want to replace about 10,000 ties. We want to get to a Class I track standard, but the ultimate goal is to get to Class II,” says Thurlow. “Right now, it’s all excepted track and jointed rail.”  

RER operates five days a week, Monday through Friday. Thurlow, Reiner and Tumpane — who all live in neighboring states such as Illinois and Michigan — for the past two years have traveled to Indiana to operate the railroad on weekdays and then returned home on weekends. The good news for them is RER recently hired its first two employees. 

“They will be conductors who will be trained to eventually move up,” says Thurlow. 

RER aims to provide service to additional customers in north-central Indiana. The short line’s traffic has been steadily growing, getting closer to 1,000 annual carloads. 

“I think in 2025, we will beat our traffic in 2024,” says Thurlow. 

Steel carloads will be a driver. And tariffs imposed on steel by the Trump administration won’t have an impact, says Thurlow. 

“Rochester Iron & Metal has contract with U.S. Steel, so tariffs aren’t a factor,” he says. “Tariffs actually make Rochester Iron & Metal more attractive.”