The Railroad Development Corporation is an American railroad

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

based in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. It operates several short line railroads outside the United States and acts as an investor, with management and institutional investors as partners. It was founded in 1987 by former Conrail employee Henry Posner III.

Americas

Argentina

RDC participated in the ownership of two rail lines in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

:RDC operating entities
Railroad Development Corporation

a broad gauge line also in partnership with

América Latina Logística The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and the Argentine government. It formerly operated as Buenos Aires al Pacífico - San Martin,

Ferrocarril General San Martín Futbol Club Sonsonate is a Salvadoran professional football club based in Sonsonate, El Salvador. The club plays its home games at Estadio Anna Mercedes Campos, a stadium located in the City suburb of Sonsonate, Sonsonate, since 2009. The team ...

, and

Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway The Buenos Aires and Pacific Railway (BA&P) (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Buenos Aires al Pacífico) was one of the ''Big Four'' broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The original concession wa ...

.
ALL Mesopotámica
a standard gauge line in partnership with

and the

Argentine government The government of Argentina, within the framework of a federal system, is a presidential representative democratic republic. The President of Argentina is both head of state and head of government. Executive power is exercised by the Presiden ...

. It formerly operated as Ferrocarril Mesopotámico - General Urquiza and

Ferrocarril General Urquiza The General Urquiza Railway (FCGU) (in Spanish: Ferrocarril General Urquiza), named after the Argentine general and politician Justo José de Urquiza, is a standard gauge railway of Argentina which runs approximately northwards from Buenos Aire ...

. In October 2013, both lines were nationalized and were taken over by Trenes Argentinos Cargas y Logistica.

Colombia

In August 2012 Ferrocarril del Pacífico that RDC has a shareholding in, resumed operations on the Buenaventura to

Yumbo Yumbo is a small, industrial city and municipality in western Colombia. It is located in the Valle del Cauca Department, just north of Cali. In 2019, it had a population of approximately 130,000 inhabitants. History Modern Yumbo was founded ...

section of the Pacific line.

Guatemala

RDC managed the previously closed gauge Ferrovias Guatemala (FVG) under a 50-year concession from 1997. In August 2006, the government of Guatemala invalidated a 2003 contract for the

usufruct Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil-law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'': * ''Usus'' (''use'') is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, direct ...

of rolling stock and other equipment. Due to the continuing uncertainty leading to losses, FVG suspended all operations on October 1, 2007 while continuing with legal actions against the Guatemalan government. The legal action was settled in RDC's favor in December 2013.

Peru

In July 1999 the Peruvian government awarded a consortium led by RDC a 30-year concession to operate the former Ferrocarril del Centro. Investors in

Ferrocarril Central Andino Ferrocarril Central Andino (FCCA) is the consortium which operates the Ferrovías Central railway in Peru linking the Pacific port of Callao and the capital Lima with Huancayo and Cerro de Pasco. As one of the Trans-Andean Railways it is the sec ...

(FCCA) included RDC, Juan Olaechea & Company, Minas Buenaventura, Cementos Andino,

Mitsui is one of the largest ''keiretsu'' in Japan and one of the largest corporate groups in the world. The major companies of the group include Mitsui & Co. ( general trading company), Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Nippon Paper Industries ...

and the

Commonwealth Development Corporation British International Investment, (formerly CDC Group plc, Commonwealth Development Corporation, and Colonial Development Corporation) is the development finance institution of the UK government. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ...

. It was agreed in June 2006 by the Peruvian government that FCCA should go ahead with

converting Converting companies are companies that specialize in modifying or combining raw materials such as polyesters, adhesives, silicone, adhesive tapes, foams, plastics, felts, rubbers, liners and metals, as well as other materials, to create new pro ...

the Ferrocarril Huancayo - Huancavelica from to ( standard gauge). Estimated to take 16 months, the US$33m project was to be funded jointly by the government and the Development Bank of Latin America. This project was finished by October 2010.

United States

RDC operates the

Iowa Interstate Railroad The Iowa Interstate Railroad is a Class II regional railroad operating in the central United States. The railroad is owned by Railroad Development Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. History The railroad was formed on November 2, 1984, u ...

. RDC first invested in the railroad in 1991, exercising an option to purchase in January 2004. In November 2008, RDC entered a joint venture with LeGrand America to operate a

business class Business class is a travel class available on many commercial airlines and rail lines, known by brand names which vary, by airline or rail company. In the airline industry, it was originally intended as an intermediate level of service between ...

road coach service from

and

Harrisburg Harrisburg is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,135 as of the 2021 census, Harrisburg is the 9th largest city and 15th largest municipality in Pe ...

. It ceased in July 2009. In December of 2022, RDC became part of a $16 million proposal by

SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five c ...

and

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee Chester County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, th ...

in southeastern

to connect the borough of West Chester to Delaware County on a line that hasn't seen service since 1986. The proposal would provide a Metro line using rechargeable, battery-driven light rail service based on Class 230 trains built from recycled London Underground cars with a 60-mile range.

Europe

Belgium

In January 2015, RDC purchased a 25% shareholding in Eurorail.

Estonia

RDC purchased a 5% shareholding in

Eesti Raudtee Eesti Raudtee or EVR is the national railway infrastructure company of Estonia. It owns a network of of broad gauge () railway throughout the country, including the used by the Elron commuter trains around Tallinn. Its sole shareholder is th ...

on August 31, 2001, selling it on January 9, 2007.

France

In 2009

Réseau Ferré de France Réseau ferré de France (RFF, french: French Rail Network) was a French company which owned and maintained the French national railway network from 1997 to 2014. The company was formed with the rail assets of SNCF in 1997. Afterwards, the train ...

, Caisse des dépôts et consignations and RDC formed a joint venture to promote local freight.

Germany

Hamburg-Köln-Express (HKX) was founded as a joint venture in November 2009 between RDC (75%), Locomore (17.5%) and railway investor Michael Schabas (7.5%). Services were initially planned to start in August 2010 but this was postponed after the paths it had identified for its services were claimed by

Keolis Keolis is a multinational transportation company that operates public transport systems. The company manages bus, rapid transit, tram, coach networks, rental bikes, car parks, water taxi, cable car, trolleybus and funicular services. ...

for a proposed

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning '' mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region, eastern France, close to the Swiss and German borders. It is the largest city in Haut-Rhin and second largest in Alsace a ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

open-access service. Keolis later abandoned its plans and HKX was able to reapply for the paths. Operations commenced on July 23, 2012. In December 2015, RDC-owned HKX stopped operating the ''Hamburg-Köln-Express'', the operation was then carried out by the independent rail tourism company ''BahnTouristikExpress'' (BTE). Following 2016 reports that the German motorail operator

DB Fernverkehr DB Fernverkehr AG (German for "DB Long-Distance Traffic") is a semi-independent division of Deutsche Bahn that operates long-distance passenger trains in Germany. It was founded in 1999 in the second stage of the privatisation of Deutsche Bahn, ...

was about to terminate all motorail services in Germany by October 2016, RDC purchased a 50% share in BTE as the company had a number of car-carrier wagons in stock. Following the purchase, on 18 October 2016, RDC commenced operating ''RDC Autozug Sylt'' car shuttle services from

Niebüll Niebüll ( Mooring North Frisian: ''Naibel''; da, Nibøl) is a town in the district of Nordfriesland, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is situated near the North Sea coast and the border with Denmark, approx. 35 km northwest of Husum. Inte ...

to Westerland after securing a 10-year access agreement. Services were initially hauled by a

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. History The group was formed by the merger of ...

Class 251 while using BTE car-carrier wagons. BTE in December 2016 started operating the ''BTE AutoReiseZug''

motorail A motorail train or accompanied car train (ACT) is a passenger train on which passengers can take their car or automobile along with them on their journey. Passengers are carried in normal passenger carriages or in sleeping carriages on longer ...

service between

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and

Lörrach Lörrach () is a town in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the capital of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, including t ...

. In October 2017, BTE and therefore RDC terminated the Hamburg-Köln-Express service without further notice. The service of the former Hamburg-Köln-Express was then restarted in March 2018 on the same route by the company Flixmobility under the brand name Flixtrain, but again with BTE as the train operator. The brand name HKX was replaced by the green Flixtrain label. In November 2017, RDC bought two Siemens Vectron diesel locomotives for its ''RDC Autozug Sylt'' car shuttle operations. In 2018 and 2019, BTE is also offering the seasonal night train ''Alpen Express'' (winter) between the Netherlands and Austria in cooperation with the Dutch agency ''Treinreiswinkel''. In 2020, RDC started operating the seasonal night train ''Alpen-Sylt Nachtexpress'' between the island of

Sylt Sylt (; da, Sild; Sylt North Frisian, Söl'ring North Frisian: ) is an island in northern Germany, part of Nordfriesland district, Schleswig-Holstein, and well known for the distinctive shape of its shoreline. It belongs to the North Frisian ...

and

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

, Austria. In 2021, its operation will also include southwestern Germany with

Konstanz Konstanz (, , locally: ; also written as Constance in English) is a university city with approximately 83,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south of Germany. The city houses the University of Konstanz and was th ...

as destination by dividing southbound trains in Gemünden. In January 2021, RDC Autozug Sylt was awarded the contract to operate the ''Akkunetz Nord''

regional train Regional rail, also known as local trains and stopping trains, are passenger rail services that operate between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops over shorter distances than inter-city rail, but fewer stops and faster servi ...

network in the state of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

, beginning in December 2023. The rolling stock, battery-electric Stadler Flirt Akku trains, was to be provided by the tendering authority. The network was to comprise the following train services: * RE72 between Flensburg and

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...

, * RB73 between Eckernförde and Kiel, * RE74 between

Husum Husum (, frr, Hüsem) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home o ...

and Kiel, * RB75 between

Rendsburg Rendsburg ( da, Rendsborg, also ''Rensborg'', nds, Rendsborg, also ''Rensborg'') is a town on the River Eider and the Kiel Canal in the central part of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) of Rendsburg-Ecke ...

and Kiel, and * RB64 between Husum and Bad St. Peter-Ording. In January 2022, the contract was terminated after legal action by incumbent DB Regio. Instead of RDC,

Nordbahn Nordbahn (german: Northern Railway) may refer to: * Berlin Northern Railway (''Berliner Nordbahn''), a railway line in Germany * Friedrich-Wilhelms-Nordbahn, another railway line in Germany * Nordbahn Eisenbahngesellschaft, a railway company based ...

was awarded the contract.

United Kingdom

RDC is a shareholder in

Vivarail Vivarail is a British rolling stock manufacturer, founded in 2012 and based in Southam. Vivarail's main project is the conversion of retired London Underground D78 Stock into two new classes for National Rail services. It was led by former Chil ...

that is converting

London Underground D78 Stock The London Underground D78 Stock, commonly referred to as D Stock, was a type of sub-surface rolling stock which operated on the District line of the London Underground, except on the Wimbledon to Edgware Road service. The first units were wit ...

electric multiple units into Class 230 diesel multiple units.

International night trains

From December 2021, the ''

nightjet Nightjet (stylised as nightjet) is a brand name given by the Austrian Federal Railways ÖBB to its overnight passenger train services. ''Nightjet'' operates in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland. The ...

'' service from

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

via

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, operated jointly by

ÖBB The Austrian Federal Railways (german: Österreichische Bundesbahnen, formally (lit. "Austrian Federal Railways Holding Stock Company") and formerly the or ''BBÖ''), now commonly known as ÖBB, is the national railway company ...

, SBB and NS will be operated using sleeper and couchette coaches leased from RDC Asset GmbH. This will last, until new nightjet coaches have been constructed. In August 2021, Swedish rail company SJ announced it had been selected by the

Swedish Transport Administration The Swedish Transport Administration ( sv, Trafikverket) is a government agency in Sweden, controlled by the Riksdag and the Government of Sweden. It is responsible for long-term infrastructure planning for transport: road, rail, shipping and avi ...

to operate a new ''

EuroNight EuroNight, abbreviated EN, is a European train category which denotes many main-line national and international night train services within the Western and Central European inter-city rail network. Overview The classification and name were bro ...

'' service from Stockholm via

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

from mid-2022. The train will be operated jointly with Danish railways

DSB DSB may refer to: Science, technology and devices * DsbA, a bacterial member of the Dsb (disulfide bond) family of enzymes * Double strand break, a break in both DNA strands, part of DNA repair * in telecommunications, double-sideband transmission ...

and RDC, with the latter providing the rolling stock, crew, as well as operating the train within Germany.

Africa

Malawi

Through the

Central East African Railways Central East African Railways is a consortium formed in 1999, led by the Railroad Development Corporation, which won the right to operate the Malawi Railways network. The company was sold in September 2008 to INSITEC, an investment group based in ...

consortium, RDC operated the Malawi Railways network which connects with the

Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (abbreviated CFM; in English Mozambique Ports and Railways) is a state-owned company that oversees the railway system of Mozambique and its connected ports. The rail system is composed of a total of 2,9 ...

line in Mozambique from December 1999. The operation was sold in 2008.Company profile
Central East African Railways

References

{{Reflist, 2

Americas

Argentina

Colombia

Guatemala

Peru

United States

Europe

Belgium

Estonia

France

Germany

United Kingdom

International night trains

Africa

Malawi

References

External links