RBMN Transload Business Surges in 2023

Reading & Northern Railroad (RBMN)—Railway Age’s four-time Regional Railroad of the Year (2002, 2011, 2015, 2020)—is Pennsylvania’s largest privately owned railroad.

Reading Blue Mountain & and Northern Railroad (RBMN) handled more than 1,700 railcars in 2023 through its warehouse and transload facilities, an increase over the previous record in 2021, the Class II announced Jan. 26.

RBMN, Pennsylvania’s largest privately owned railroad and four-time Railway Age Regional of the Year (2002, 2011, 2015, 2020), first entered the transload business in 2012 when it saw a need in the marketplace. Transload locations, the railroad says, allow freight customers who do not have access to the railroad to enjoy the economies of rail movements of bulk commodities without a direct rail connection. At RBMN’s three transload facilities—West Hazleton, Cressona, and Mountain Top—and its warehouse—Ransom Warehouse—RBMN’s transload staff receives various commodities in railcars and then unloads the cars into trucks for delivery to the customers plants.

In recent years, RBMN says it has seen an increasing number of companies wanting to store material closer to their customers “to avoid disruption in the supply chain.” In 2018, RBMN purchased and upgraded the Ransom Warehouse to serve this need. Producers ship their material to the Ransom Warehouse by rail (or occasionally by truck) and, depending on the destination receiver’s ability to receive by rail, it is shipped out via rail or truck. In addition, several suppliers also use the warehouse “as a means of storing safety stock, especially during the winter when there are often weather-related service disruptions,” the Class II said.

RBMN started operating transload centers in 2012. In 2023, the railroad says it handled a “record number of carloads” at its West Hazleton transload, located within the Humboldt Industrial Park. This facility unloads product from railcars and loads it onto trucks for delivery to a local company that does not have a rail siding.

“Our transload centers and Ransom Warehouse have become an important part of the supply chain for many of our customers, providing them with a way to enjoy the economies and convenience of rail even when they are not directly on our 400-mile rail network,” said RBMN VP-Distribution Services Daren Geschwindt. “RBMN’s committed transload team ensures service on demand and next day deliveries when needed.”