Ironhorse Resources to develop rail industrial park in Permian Basin

Ironhorse Resources Inc. has announced it acquired 627 acres east of Big Spring, Texas, to develop a rail-served industrial park aimed at companies involved in burgeoning crude-oil production in the Permian Basin.

The park would be similar to a 270-acre development the company established in LaSalle County, Texas, in the middle of the Eagle Ford Shale for its Gardendale Railroad Inc. subsidiary, Ironhorse Resources officials said in an anouncement. The Big Spring Industrial Rail Park will accommodate current demand and growing oil production in the Permian Basin, they said.

"This will be a very flexible site that will support all shale-related commodities and have significant acreage available for expansion," Ironhorse Resources officials said. "This facility will support both manifest and unit-train solutions."

The company plans to form a short line to serve the Big Spring park. To launch service in the third or fourth quarter of 2015, the new short line would interchange with Union Pacific Railroad.

In addition to the Gardendale Railroad, Ironhorse Resources owns and operates the Carey Fork & Western Railroad, Mississippi Tennessee Railroad, Rio Valley Switching Co., Santa Teresa Southern Railroad L.L.C., Southern Switching Co., Border Transload & Transfer Inc., IHR Transport and IHR Logistics L.L.C.

Rio Valley Switching, which interchanges with Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway Co., operates near Mexico's Burgos Basin and is poised to react to crude-production demand as Mexico's energy market grows, Ironhorse Resources officials said.