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Carload Express Inc. and Hannibal Real Estate L.L.C. yesterday announced they reached agreement to operate a 12.2-mile line in Monroe County, Ohio.

Ohio Terminal Railway Co., a new wholly owned Carload Express subsidiary, will operate the route — known as the Omal line — and interchange with Norfolk Southern Railway.

The line originally was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad to serve an aluminum plant in Hannibal, Ohio, and was later sold by Conrail to the Ormet Railroad Corp. In 2007, when Hannibal Real Estate acquired the former Ormet Rolling Mills in Hannibal, the company also acquired the operating rights to the Omal Railway from Ormet.

The deal returns freight-rail service to the route and makes the Ohio Terminal Railway the only railroad in Monroe County, which is centrally located in the "wet" gas and oil producing portion of the Utica and Marcellus shales, Carload Express and Hannibal Real Estate officials said in a joint statement. In addition, the line provides rail access into the Hannibal Industrial Park owned by Hannibal Real Estate and the adjacent Ormet aluminum plant.

"The combination of the new rail service and property available at the industrial park is a natural fit to service the emerging shale gas drilling industry in the region," Carload Express and Hannibal Real Estate officials said.

In addition to the newly formed Ohio Terminal Railway, Carload Express operates the Allegheny Valley Railroad, Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad and Camp Chase Railroad.