Genesee Valley Transportation History
Genesee Valley Transportation Company Inc. (GVT RAIL SYSTEMS) began operations in 1985 in Upstate New York marketing rail-related services to both private and public industry throughout the northeast. Services provided at that time were purchasing and leasing railroad equipment, consulting and logistics.
In 1989, GVT RAIL was successful in winning a bid to operate 3 miles of railroad owned by Erie County (NY) and it was immediately leased to GVT's new subsidiary railroad, the Depew, Lancaster & Western Railroad (DL&W) from the Erie County Industrial Development Agency. Subsequently, in 1990, GVT purchased the Lowville & Beaver River Railroad (L&BR) in the Adirondack region of New York State.
GVT again expanded in the Adirondack Region when the Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern Railroad (MA&N) was formed in 1991 as a new subsidiary to operate trackage acquired from Conrail. The MA&N operates a total of 124 miles with terminals in of Utica and Carthage, NY.
In 1992 and 1993, GVT continued its growth by purchasing additional trackage from Conrail in the Utica/Rome and Batavia, NY areas under the name of Genesee & Mohawk Valley Railroad. In turn, the properties in Utica and Rome were leased to the MA&N, while the property in Batavia was leased to the DL&W.
In 1993, the opportunity to begin the first operation outside of New York State came along and GVT was the successful bidder to operate the Lackawanna County Rail Authority's rail lines within Lackawanna and Monroe counties in this highly industrial area of Scranton, Pa. GVT's Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad (DL) began service August 1993 and now operates over 88 miles of trackage north and east from the Scranton terminal.
GVT's last purchase was the Falls Road Railroad (FRR) which was incorporated in 1996 to acquire and operate the Conrail trackage running from Lockport to Brockport, NY. The FRR is a 45-mile rail line with a terminal located at Lockport NY.
During the period from 1989 to date, GVT rail lines have grown from its 3 mile humble beginning to a system operating in 2 states with over 300 miles of rail lines, a fleet of 28 locomotives, employing over 60 people and operating 8 terminals. In addition GVT looks for continued growth in many areas such as industrial switching, warehousing, transloading and logistical work along with its current business. In 2003 GVT's DL&W Transload was opened in Lancaster NY and provides customized train to truck and warehousing services in the Buffalo area.
GVT is privately owned with corporate headquarters located in Batavia, NY, and serves over 125 customers throughout New York State and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. With the split of Conrail in 1999, GVT RAIL's interchange partners are now CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific. In 2005, GVT handled over 11,000 cars with revenues of $5.4M. GVT's continued growth during the next year will keep the company as one of the premier regional railroads and logistics companies in the northeast. With marketing and customized freight service as a motto GVT RAIL looks to the new millennium as growth opportunity.