OmniTRAX, Inc. is a transportation and transportation infrastructure holding company based in Denver, Colorado, in the United States. It primarily owns or operates railroads, with a network of 25 regional and shortline railroads in 12 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. It is one of the largest privately owned railroad companies in the United States. The firm also invests in, develops, and operates ports, multimodal transportation terminals, and industrial parks.
History of the company
OmniTRAX was incorporated in 1986 as a subsidiary of The Broe Group, a privately held energy development and real estate company founded by Denver businessman Pat Broe in 1972. OmniTRAX purchased the Great Western Railway of Colorado that year in order to augment the value of Broe's industrial real estate developments in northeastern Colorado.
Initial expansion
OmniTRAX leased the Kansas Southwestern Railway from the Union Pacific Railroad in April 1991.
In June 1992, OmniTRAX purchased all the outstanding stock of the Chicago West Pullman Transportation Co., which owned the Manufacturers' Junction Railway at Cicero, Illinois; the Newburgh and South Shore Railroad at Cleveland, Ohio; the Chicago Rail Link at Chicago, Illinois; the Chicago, West Pullman and Southern Railroad in Chicago; the Georgia Woodlands Railroad in Warren and Wilkes counties, Georgia; and the Wisconsin and Calumet Railroad in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. The Wisconsin & Calumet was sold less than a month later to the Wisconsin and Southern Railroad. OmniTRAX purchased the abandoned Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Cicero, which was adjacent to the Manufacturers' Junction Railway, and began developing it as a multimodal transfer center.
In October 1992, OmniTRAX purchased of track in Kansas and Oklahoma from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. The main lines of track stretched from Salina, Kansas, to Osborne, Kansas, and from Marion, Kansas, to Scott City, Kansas. OmniTRAX formed the Central Kansas Railway to run on the lines. The Kansas Southwestern Railway merged into the Central Kansas Railway in May 2000, and then OmniTRAX sold the Central Kansas Railway to Watco in April 2001.
OmniTRAX purchased of track between Borger and Panhandle, Texas, from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe in November 1993. It formed the Panhandle Northern Railroad to operate on this track. Eighteen months later, in May 1995, OmniTRAX leased the Northern Ohio & Western Railway from the Sandusky County/Seneca County/Tiffin Port Authority.
Move into Canada
OmniTRAX moved into Canada in November 1996 with its purchase of the Hudson Bay Railway, which ran from The Pas, Manitoba, to the Port of Churchill in Churchill, Manitoba. OmniTRAX then purchased the port itself for C$1 in November 1997. As part of the deal, the Canadian government agreed to put C$34 million worth of upgrades, dredging, and repairs into the port, while OmniTRAX pledged to add C$45 million in upgrading the port facilities and Hudson Bay Railway. Three months later, OmniTRAX purchased the Carlton Trail Railway track bought from the Canadian National Railway. The ran from Warman, Saskatchewan, to White Star, Saskatchewan, and from Speers Junction (near White Star) to end of the line at Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan.
Post-2000 expansion
OmniTRAX expanded its presence in the American Southeast in 2004 by purchasing the Georgia and Florida Railnet (renamed the Georgia and Florida Railway) from North American RailNet. It also leased the terminal switching Fulton County Railway (based in Atlanta), and the Alabama and Tennessee River Railway in Alabama. It purchased both lines outright in 2018.
OmniTRAX made its first venture into Washington state when it purchased a BNSF Railway route in January 2005. This route, shaped like an inverted capital "U", ran from Kettle Falls, Washington, north to the U.S.-Canadian border at Laurier, Washington, crossed the border to reach Cascade City, British Columbia, traveled west to Almond Gardens, then south to cross the border to follow Washington State Route 21 to Republic, Washington. Another of line (from Kettle Falls southeast to Chewelah, Washington, and from Kettle Falls northwest to Columbia Gardens, British Columbia) was leased from BNSF. The Kettle Falls International Railway was created to run on these lines.
OmniTRAX completed its purchase of all of North American Railnet's assets in April 2005 when it purchased the Nebraska Kansas Colorado Railway and the Illinois Railway.