2024 SHORT LINE OF THE YEAR: MSE

Railway Age’s 2024 Short Line Railroad of the Year is Mississippi Export Railroad (MSE). (Chip Haffner Photograph, Courtesy of MSE)

RAILWAY AGE, MARCH 2024 ISSUE: After more than 100 years, MSE continues to lead the way in its commitment to safety, growth and community outreach.

Celebrating more than 100 years of service, the 42-mile Mississippi Export Railroad (MSE) extends from Pascagoula to Evanston, Miss., and is the north-south corridor connecting CN and the east-west line of CSX. The Class III also interchanges with Norfolk Southern (NS) in Mobile, Ala., and Hattiesburg, Miss., and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) in Jackson, Miss., through haulage agreements, and the Port of Pascagoula, as well as with all carriers in Mobile. These connections and their alliances link the Gulf of Mexico to all points on the continent and beyond. 

MSE began operations in 1922 when Gregory M. Luce purchased and reorganized the defunct Alabama & Mississippi Railroad. Over the years, MSE has diversified its service offerings, generated new business opportunities, expanded its reach and increased its economic impact across the region. As a result, the short line has established itself as a dependable and committed player in the industry, with a clear focus on ensuring another successful 100 years. Today, it is run by Luce’s great-great-granddaughter, Kate Luce Bourgeois, a Railway Age 2022 Women in Rail honoree, who assumed leadership in 2017 and continued expanding the business, forming a subsidiary, Mobile-based Alabama Export Railroad (ALE), in 2019. ALE also links customers worldwide with its connections to seven railroads, including CN, CSX, NS, CPKC, Terminal Railway Alabama State Docks, Alabama & Gulf Coast Railway, CG Railway LLC, and the Port of Mobile and APM Terminals. Together with ALE, MSE offers railcar and locomotive repair shops, railcar storage facilities, track maintenance and repair, transloading terminals, and more than 1,500 acres of shovel-ready industrial development sites.

Growth is a core competency of MSE, which aligns with its commitment to finding innovative ways to provide access to and solutions for its customers—from investing in development properties to enhancing services such as transloading. MSE recently made a 132-acre real estate purchase that aims not only to grow the company’s operations but also to provide customers and potential customers with opportunities to expand their reach. 

The Alabama Export Business Park is located less than 10 minutes from I-65 and Mobile’s APM Terminals. The property has the potential to develop a 1.6 million square-foot rail-served site near the Port of Mobile, which is the second fastest-growing port in the country. MSE is currently working through steps to obtain the CN Rail Ready designation for the Alabama Export Business Park. CN has engaged Austin Consulting, a Cleveland, Ohio-based industrial site selection team, to guide property owners through the necessary steps to verify the site’s readiness for development.

MSE currently operates two industrial parks that have become hubs for attracting new businesses and creating jobs in its community. The short line in 2023 began an expansion project at the Helena (Miss.) Industrial Park, where a new, state-of-the-art tank qualification facility will be located. The new facility will fill regional demand and create new jobs in Southeast Mississippi. Shop customers, including local and regional manufacturers, as well as car owners and lessors, will see decreased costs and increased asset utilization by eliminating transport to far-off repair facilities, according to the short line. 

Safety is a top priority for MSE, which works with partners to enhance overall safety performance by implementing advanced safety protocols and fostering a proactive safety culture. Over the past 19 years, it has received the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association’s (ASLRRA) Jake Award with Distinction 12 times for having no Federal Railroad Administration (FRA)-reportable injuries and the Jake Award five times for performing better than industry average injury frequency rate. Continually reinvesting in infrastructure and safety, MSE has installed more than 20,000 new crossties in the past five years as part of its Track Maintenance Program. MSE also invests in its employees by providing training and development opportunities. “It is our philosophy that employees who feel valued and invested have a positive attitude, are more productive, and take ownership and pride in their work ethic,” the short line reports.

Other significant efforts include working with state and city officials to upgrade public highway/rail grade crossings. 

MSE has also demonstrated its commitment to the communities it serves through outreach efforts. In 2023, it partnered with a local model railroad museum, educating young people on the values of S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) and how they relate to railroads. The short line’s locomotive fleet was featured in a commercial, which showcased a young boy going to work on the railroad with his father and dreaming of becoming a train conductor. Additionally MSE has worked for many years with the Pascagoula High School’s College and Career Technical Institute Welding Program.

Besides being recognized by Railway Age, MSE has been honored by CSX with the Class I railroad’s 2023 Short Line Growth Award for traffic measured from July 2022 to June 2023, compared with the prior-year period. And it achieved second place in Percentage Lineal Growth, with a 164% increase from the previous year. 

In 2023, MSE transported 6,000 carloads for the newly built Enviva Biomass pellet mill located in Lucedale, Miss. Enviva also partnered with the Port of Pascagoula and the state to develop a deep-water marine terminal in Pascagoula. At ALE, Ray-Mont Logistics is co-investing in a resin bagging terminal at the Port of Mobile that is expected to go online later this year. 

Overall, MSE has achieved manifest carload traffic growth of 234% during the past five years.