For FLEXRail, a ‘Strategic’ Lease Renewal in St. Louis Regional Freightway
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Terminal Association of St. Louis. (William Beecher Photograph)
Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA), Railway Age’s 2020 Short Line of the Year, has renewed FLEXRail’s lease of 800 feet of track at the Madison Yard in Venice, Ill. The lease allows the rail logistics provider to access one of TRRA’s two potential industrial development sites that are part of Bi-State Development agency’s St. Louis Regional Freightway initiative.
Announced in April 2023, the initiative is said to be “streamlining the site selection process for rail-accessible sites” across the bi-state Missouri/Illinois region (see map below). TRRA’s second site is located in East St. Louis, Ill. (see map above). National Environmental Policy Act and survey work has been completed at both TRRA sites, but additional work is needed to get to “shovel-ready status,” according to the short line; they will be served by TRRA and Norfolk Southern (scroll down to download site details).
FLEXRail’s lease renewal in Venice is “strategic,” according to Ron Lord, Vice President of Business Development at FLEXRail, which is part of Liberty Hill Equity Partners, LLC, and Precision Vehicle Holdings, whose portfolio of companies are in the automotive logistics and transportation sectors. The company said the renewal “amplifies the region’s logistical capabilities, providing businesses with enhanced flexibility and agility in their supply chain operations.”
Lord told Railway Age on Dec. 14 that FLEXRail is currently soliciting customers; it is “open to discuss all opportunities,” he said, and “looking for transload and railcar clean out.”
