Progressive Rail Inc. is a

shortline railroad :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that opera ...

and owner of several other shortlines. PGR is directly operating several separate branches in Minnesota including the Airlake Terminal Railway. Progressive Rail also acquired the Wisconsin Northern Division in

Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin Chippewa Falls is a city located on the Chippewa River in Chippewa County in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 14,778 in the 2021 census. Incorporated as a city in 1869, it is the county seat of Chippewa Cou ...

and operates as a separately-named division. They also own the Chicago Junction Railroad, Clackamas Valley Railway, the

Iowa Traction Railway The Iowa Traction Railway Company , formerly the Iowa Traction Railroad Company, is a shortline railroad operating in the United States as a common carrier. It was originally founded in 1896 as the Mason City and Clear Lake Railway, a passenger c ...

and Iowa Southern Railway in Iowa, the Piedmont & Northern Railroad, the

Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railroad The Crab Orchard and Egyptian Railway (formerly American Rail Heritage, Ltd. d/b/a Crab Orchard, and Egyptian Railroad Company) is a Class III common carrier shortline railroad that operates in the cities of Marion and Herrin in the Southern I ...

in Illinois, the St. Paul & Pacific Northwest Railroad, and the

Wisconsin Northern Railroad The Wisconsin Northern Railroad is the trade name employed by Progressive Rail to operate of railroad in northern Wisconsin and began operations on November 29, 2004. Trackage The railroad operates on trackage leased from the Union Pacific Ra ...

. Progressive Rail is also known as the Cannon Valley Railroad . The PGR branches are listed as follows: * Transload Industrial Park (

Airlake Terminal Railway The Airlake Terminal Railway , a subsidiary of Progressive Rail, is a short line railroad operating approximately of track in a large industrial park in Lakeville, Minnesota. Typical traffic includes various bulk commodities and cargo for trans-sh ...

) - Lakeville, Minnesota * The "High Line" (a.k.a.

Dan Patch Line The Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway was an long American shortline railroad connecting Minneapolis and Northfield, Minnesota. It was incorporated in 1918 to take over the trackage of the former Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and ...

) -

Bloomington, Minnesota Bloomington is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, on the north bank of the Minnesota River, above its confluence with the Mississippi River, south of downtown Minneapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city's population was 89,987, ma ...

Richfield, Minnesota Richfield is a suburban city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Minnesota River at Fort Snelling. An inner ring suburb of Minneapolis, it is bordered by Minneapolis to the north, Minn ...

, and

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. Service begins at Auto Club Yard in Bloomington and serves a variety of industries * The "Jesse James Line" -

Northfield Northfield may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Northfield, Aberdeen, Scotland * Northfield, Edinburgh, Scotland * Northfield, Birmingham, England * Northfield (Kettering BC Ward), Northamptonshire, England United States * Northfield, Connec ...

to Lakeville, leased

CP Rail The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

trackage *

Faribault, Minnesota Faribault ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Rice County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 23,352 at the 2010 census. Faribault is approximately south of Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Interstate 35 and Minnesota State Highways ...

via leased

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

trackage * Northfield to

Cannon Falls, Minnesota Cannon Falls is a city in Goodhue County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 4,083 at the 2010 census. Located along U.S. Route 52, southeast of the Twin Cities, Cannon Falls is the home of Pachyderm Studio, where many famous musici ...

, with service to the Great Western Industrial Park in

Randolph, Minnesota Randolph is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota, Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 436 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History A post office called Randolph has been in operation since 1886. The city took i ...

. * Eagandale Industrial line (

Eagan, Minnesota Eagan ( ) is a city in Dakota County, Minnesota. It is south of Saint Paul and lies on the south bank of the Minnesota River, upstream from the confluence with the Mississippi River. Eagan and the other nearby suburbs form the southern section o ...

) via leased

trackage (former

Milwaukee Road The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), often referred to as the "Milwaukee Road" , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States, Midwest and Pacific Northwest, Northwest of the United States fr ...

) *

Santa Cruz Branch Line The Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Railroad (SCMB), or Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line (SCBRL), is a historic railway running through Santa Cruz County, California. It once ran operationally from Davenport to the Watsonville Junction where it connected t ...

Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality * Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta **District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...

Watsonville Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, located in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 according to the 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and Democratic, Watsonville is a self- ...

, California (operating with the Santa Cruz, Big Trees, and Pacific Railway as a

subcontractor A subcontractor is an individual or (in many cases) a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract. Put simply the role of a subcontractor is to execute the job they are hired by the contractor f ...

)

History

Headquartered in

Lakeville, Minnesota Lakeville is an exurb of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, and the largest city in Dakota County, Minnesota, United States. It is approximately south of both downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul along Interstate Highway 35. Starting as a flourishi ...

(a southern suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul), Progressive Rail, Inc. was established in 1996 to initially serve the Airlake Industrial Park. In 2001, they leased the former

Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway The Minneapolis, Northfield and Southern Railway was an long American shortline railroad connecting Minneapolis and Northfield, Minnesota. It was incorporated in 1918 to take over the trackage of the former Minneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and ...

"High Line" in Bloomington and Richfield and started restoring trackage. The company's philosophy has been to provide service that a large railway chooses not to provide. They have also focused on economic development, including finding new customers, and working on regaining former rail customers along their lines. This strategy has paid off in an increase in traffic, from 600 carloads in their first year of operation to more than 5000 carloads in 2003. Major commodities include resins, chemicals, fuels, lumber, gypsum board, cement, fly-ash, metals, paper, machinery, food and kindred products, scrap material, and consumer products. Progressive Rail, Inc. also operates wholly owned subsidiary Progressive Rail Specialized Logistics, which provides rail logistics services for machinery and over-dimensional freight shippers.

Locomotive roster

References

External links

Progressive Rail, Inc. official site

Progressive Rail Specialized Logistics official site

Union Pacific shortline customer description

{{DEFAULTSORT:Progressive Rail Inc. Minnesota railroads Railway companies established in 1996 Switching and terminal railroads