RAIL AUTHORITY & DELAWARE-LACKAWANNA PARTNERSHIP TO HIT 30-YEAR MARK
SCRANTON,PA – When the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad made a purchase of 12 American Locomotive Co. Century-425 diesels, they were planning for the long-haul. The young railroad couldn’t have anticipated a future of economic heartache to-come, nor that those diesels would only serve the E-L for a dozen years. Thanks to the Genesee Valley (GVT Rail) team, two of those locomotives returned to home rails in 1993 and have been part of a thunderous renaissance of their former railroad ever since. On DATE, the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority (PNRRA) and GVT Rail’s Delaware-Lackawanna (DL) Railroad took a step to see this legacy sustained, announcing a five-year extension of their fruitful, quarter-century partnership for rail operations in the Scranton/Pocono region.
Effective August of this year, the contract extension follows a celebrated and historic 18 months for the DL. Record traffic levels in 2018 were cited in prestigious awards from the American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association and Norfolk Southern Railroad, respectively. With a strong 4th quarter, 2019 eclipsed the previous year’s record for carloads.
“Our commitment to peerless customer service has driven exponential growth,” said GVT Rail president David Monte Verde. “The numbers are a testament to the strength of our long-standing, public-private partnership with PNRRA. We appreciate the trust that the taxpayers of Northeastern PA have put in us to operate their rail asset for the past 25 years. With this extension, we relish the opportunity to serve them for 25 more.”
“The public-private model forged in Northeastern Pennsylvania has become a model increasingly used across the United States to save rail trackage that has been abandoned and was being liquidated by private sector railroads,” said Larry Malski, PNRRA President. “The progress continues in Northeastern Pennsylvania, as evidenced by a 29% increase in carloads during the first four months of 2019 on this trackage.”
It’s a team effort that will keep those former Erie-Lackawanna diesels on their home rails for years to come.
ABOUT GVT RAIL
Genesee Valley Transportation Co., Inc. (GVT Rail) is a privately-owned shortline and regional rail corporation based out of Batavia, NY. Founded in 1985, GVT Rail has grown from a five-mile spur in greater Buffalo, NY, to a 318-mile network of five subsidiary railroads in two states. Over three-and-a-half decades, we’ve set an imprint as an industry-recognized leader in business development and “friendly, customized service.” Be it restoring service to an existing industry or establishing truck-train transloading services, the GVT Rail team is always on the lookout for new opportunities to contribute to the economic renaissance of the communities and regions that we serve.
