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The American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) recently named the Finger Lakes Railway Corp., Providence & Worcester Railroad Co. and R.J. Corman Railroad Co./Central Kentucky Lines as winners of its 16th annual marketing awards.

Established in 1996, the awards recognize regionals’ and short lines’ ability to “continually adapt to changing times and economic conditions through the implementation of innovative business development plans,” according to the ASLRRA.

The association recognized Finger Lakes Railway for partnering with Norfolk Southern Railway and Canadian Pacific to create a door-to-door industrial rebar service for Nucor in Auburn, N.Y., and its integrated Canadian subsidiaries, Nucor Trading and Harris Rebar. The three railroads “used an untapped fixed division agreement to penetrate the NAFTA Toronto marketplace and defeat truck competition,” according to the ASLRRA. The service generates annual volume of 270 carloads, and 2010 volume grew 50.8 percent compared with 2009.

The ASLRRA recognized Providence & Worcester for partnering with Rawson Materials and Hopkins Materials to capture a larger portion of materials transported to New York City/Long Island-area concrete and asphalt plants that typically move via trucks, ships and barges. Rail market share traditionally had been less than 2 percent. The regional built one mile of track, and with Rawson Materials, acquired 160 new cars from National Steel Car. In addition, Rawson Materials built a production facility and worked with a Long Island trucking and materials handler to set up a distribution facility in Queens. Providence & Worcester now operates 60- to 70-car trains three days per week in conjunction with the New York & Atlantic Railway, and during the 2010 construction season, the regional delivered more than 5,000 cars to the New York and Long Island markets.

The ASLRRA also recognized R.J. Corman/Central Kentucky Lines for working with CSX Transportation to meet Novellis’ transportation needs for aluminum ingots produced at a Berea, Ky., plant. Although the plant is located on a CSXT line, R.J. Corman purchased locomotives and cars for daily operations, and hired five new employees to load ingots in Berea and 12 employees to unload ingots at a Russellville, Ky., facility. R.J. Corman then was able to meet Novellis’ requirement for delivering at least 60 ingots every two days to Russellville, ASLRRA said. R.J. Corman also provides switching and weighing services for inbound and outbound rail cars at the Berea plant, as well as track maintenance. Last year, the rail shuttle operation moved about 550 million pounds of aluminum ingots from Berea to Russellville, helping divert about 11,000 trucks from Kentucky highways.

This year, the ASLRRA received a record 24 entries for the marketing awards, resulting in the most competitive pool of applications, according to ASLRRA Marketing Manager Jenny McKinney.
 
The winners will receive their awards May 3 at the association’s annual convention, which will be held April 30-May 3 in San Antonio, Texas.