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Iowa Pacific Holdings L.L.C.’s United Kingdom affiliate Weardale Railway recently reconnected its rail line to the U.K. national network in Bishop Auckland. On Feb. 19, the first freight train to use the new connection moved from London King’s Cross station to Stanhope on the Weardale line.

The connection previously was lost after the line closed in 1993; part of the line reopened for tourist-rail service in 2004. Since Iowa Pacific Holdings and other investors acquired the line in 2008, 10 miles of track that had been out of service were restored and a connection to Network Rail was re-established.

As a result of the reconnection, a new coal terminal is expected to open on the line in Wolsingham in June, Iowa Pacific Holdings officials said in a prepared statement. Coal from a new nearby strip mine will be loaded into unit trains destined for power plants. Iowa Pacific Holdings also is working with other shippers on the line to develop additional traffic.

“Weardale Railway is demonstrating that the short-line model that has worked effectively on many branch lines in the United States can also be effectively employed in the U.K.,” said Iowa Pacific Holdings President Ed Ellis, adding that the railway also is a “great example” of a public-private partnership.

Weardale Railway is 75 percent owned by Iowa Pacific Holdings affiliate British American Railway Services — which provides locomotive leasing, and track construction and maintenance services in the U.K. —with the remainder owned by the Weardale Railway Trust and County Durham. Iowa Pacific Holdings owns six U.S. and two U.K. railroads, and provides car repair and leasing services.