“That number is based on historical numbers from CSX,” Watco Vice President of Commercial Carla Ewing tells Trains. “The highest number I have seen from past years is around 25,000 cars. That’s the goal for me and my people to get back to.”
It looks reachable based on what the new short line has done so far. Ewing says the railroad had moved around 11,000 cars by the end of February.
“People are just starting to know our name out there,” she said. “We’re knocking on the door and introducing ourselves and asking if we can help.”
The Decatur & Eastern Illinois began service last September on former Baltimore & Ohio tracks that run east from Decatur, to Hillsdale, Ind., and tracks former New York Central tracks that run south from Vermillion Grove, Ill., to Terre Haute, Ind. At both Hillsdale and Terre Haute, the short line interchanges with CSX. The east-west and north-south segments intersect at Chrisman, Ill.
At Decatur, where big customers are Archer Daniels Midland and Tate & Lyle, Decatur & Eastern Illnois interchanges with Norfolk Southern and Canadian National. The short line serves both ADM’s east and west plants, accessing the east plant on trackage rights over CN.
Other interchange takes place in Tuscola, Ill., with Union Pacific, and at Metcalf, Ill., with Eastern Illinois Railroad. At Tuscola, the D&EI serves chemical companies Equistar, Buckeye, and Cabot, as well as another large ADM facility. At Metcalf, the short line hands off unit trains to the Eastern Illinois for the ADM facility in Oakland, Ill.
“This is a pretty exciting place to be right now,” Paris, Ill., trainmaster Matt Nicol tells Trains while giving a tour of the Paris area. “We have big plans to do some big things.”
In Paris, the short line serves three customers on the south side of town. Milk Specialties, a pet nutrition products company, and Cadillac Products Packaging, are served three days a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Pretium Products, another packaging company, gets service on Tuesday and Thursday.
The big player in town is Cargill, which is switched six days a week. Chad Stevens, supply chain planner at Cargill’s Paris plant, said he is pleased with the new short line’s performance.
“Their customer service group is awesome to work with,” Stevens says. “And they’re very quick to act on something. They’ve bent over backwards to make sure they have a crew for us.”
Ewing says the railroad is attempting to win back some business that may have been lost to trucks in the past. A new online shuttle service is being started to move 15- to 20-car shipments of corn and soybeans for elevators along the line. The first customer contract for that service has been signed, she says.
Traffic on the line includes local jobs based in Paris, Decatur, and Tuscola. There are also a pair of road jobs scheduled to run seven days a week between Decatur and Paris, and Paris and Terre Haute. The railroad also hosts unit trains, with the busiest time in the fall during the grain harvest. Road trains between Paris and Decatur typically swap crews at Chrisman.
