About Us
Iowa Northern Railway Company is headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It also has offices, repair and maintenance shops and yard facilities in Manly, Greene, and Waterloo.
Iowa Northern Railway Company, was formed in 1984 following the liquidation of the assets of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company. The line runs diagonally through Iowa from northwest to southeast from Manly to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and a branch line from Waterloo to Oelwein, Iowa.
A group led by Dan Sabin took over management of the line in 1994. At that time the railroad handled 15,000 revenue cars annually and the average track speed was under 10 mph. Traffic is now trending upward to 62,000 revenue cars for 2008 and the average track speed is around 30 mph. The railroad has invested millions in bringing the line up to a state of good repair while increasing reliability and customer service.
The Iowa Northern has ethanol producer Hawkeye Renewables locating facilities on its line because of the dedication to service that is a part of Iowa Northern´s culture. One facility is fully operational in Fairbank, IA on the Oelwein branch line. The second Hawkeye facility on the Iowa Northern is under construction in Butler County just north of Shell Rock, Iowa.
Adjacent to this new facility, the Iowa Northern is developing a transload terminal called Butler Yard, for heavy equipment, construction materials, and food grade product reloading. It will handle the mixing of products manufactured locally for shipping outward around the country and also act as a hub for equipment and products manufactured outside of Iowa to be consolidated into loads destined for regional markets. This facility will also be home to a state of the art locomotive repair shop and a yard to support the consolidation and transportation of ethanol tank cars not only for the adjacent ethanol plant, but also Manly Terminal.
Manly Terminal is a first of its kind terminal built to support the ethanol industry in the efficient handling transportation, storage, and trading of ethanol and related commodities. Located in the heart of ethanol production in the United States, it is ideally situated to provide a conduit between producers and Class I railroads, between buyers and sellers, and allowing every marketer access to every destination in North America. Manly Terminal is fully operation as of January 2008.
Iowa Northern Stats
- Operating Miles: 163 Miles
- Total Rail Cars: 500 Covered Grain Hoppers
- Locomotive Fleet: 12 EMD GP38-2, 1 EMD GP20R, 1 EMD F40PH, 3 EMD GP40-2W,
4 EMD F40M-2F - Employee Headcount: 75
Railroad Interchanges:
- Manly: UP
- Nora Springs: IC&E/DM&E (to CSXT, NS and KCS)
- Waterloo: UP, CN (to BNSF)
- Cedar Rapids: UP, CN, CIC (to IAIS)
