EPA SmartWay Signs on Regional Rail

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
Regional Rail LLC began operating Florida’s Port Manatee Railroad on Dec. 1, 2021.

Regional Rail LLC began operating Florida’s Port Manatee Railroad on Dec. 1, 2021.

Eight more short lines have joined the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s SmartWay® Transport Partnership program; they are part of Regional Rail LLC, a holding company based in Kennett Square, Pa.

The small roads include: East Penn Railroad, operating 110 miles of track in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware; Middletown & New Jersey Railroad, operating 55 miles of track in southeastern New York state; Tyburn Railroad, operating a 14-acre rail-to-truck transload facility, a trucking company, and a terminal switching operation in Morrisville, Pa.; Florida Central Railroad, operating 68 miles of track serving the Orlando area; Florida Midland Railroad, operating 28 miles of track serving central Florida; Florida Northern Railroad, operating 104 miles of track on two branch lines covering the region north of Tampa; Port Manatee Railroad LLC, operating seven miles of track serving Port Manatee, Fla.; and Carolina Coastal Railway, operating 179 miles of track in eastern North Carolina, including service to the Port of Morehead City, N.C.

SmartWay was developed jointly by EPA, industry stakeholders and environmental groups in early 2003, and was launched in 2004. It “provides a comprehensive and well-recognized system for tracking, documenting and sharing information about fuel use and freight emissions across supply chains; helps companies identify and select more efficient freight carriers, transport modes, equipment, and operational strategies to improve supply chain sustainability and lower costs from goods movement; and supports global energy security and offsets environmental risk for companies and countries”; among other features.

Partner carriers, like railroads, submit their efficiency and air quality data to EPA annually, and it is aggregated and divided into five ranked performance ranges for each freight mode and carrier category, according to the agency.

There are nearly 4,000 SmartWay partners, which include shippers; logistics companies; and truck, rail, barge and multimodal carriers.

“Regional Rail is pleased to be invited to join the SmartWay Transport Partnership, and looks forward to working toward achieving its environmental goals,” Regional Rail President and CEO Al Sauer said. “We pride ourselves in being important pieces of the North American freight rail network and look forward to continuing our efforts to assist shippers in reducing their environmental impact on the communities in which we operate.”

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