The Ann Arbor Railroad is a

Class III railroad Railroad classes are the system by which freight railroads are designated in the United States. Railroads are assigned to Class I, II or III according to annual revenue criteria originally set by the Surface Transportation Board in 1992. With a ...

that operates fifty miles of track from

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

, to

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...

. The railroad is operated by

Watco Watco Companies, L.L.C. (Watco) Watco is an American transportation and logistics company based in Pittsburg, Kansas. The company’s core services are freight transportation, material handling and storage, logistics, railcar repair and maintena ...

and is based in

Howell, Michigan Howell is the largest city in and county seat of Livingston County, Michigan, United States. As of the 2025 census, the city had a population of 9,914. The city is mostly surrounded by Howell Township, Michigan, Howell Township, but the two are ad ...

. Prior to Watco's purchase of the railroad in 2013, the railroad was operated by the Ann Arbor Acquisition Corporation from 1988 to 2013.

History

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busine ...

served as the designated operator of the Ann Arbor Railroad main line from 1976–1977 following the bankruptcy of the original Ann Arbor Railroad. The Michigan Interstate Railway succeeded Conrail in 1977 and purchased the Toledo–Ann Arbor portion of the line from the state of Michigan in 1985. The Ann Arbor Acquisition Corporation, doing business as the Ann Arbor Railroad, purchased the bankrupt Michigan Interstate Railway on October 7, 1988.

Operations

The Ann Arbor Railroad operates between Ottawa Yard in

and

. In Toledo it interchanges with the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

, the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

, and the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railway. It as additional interchange points with the Indiana and Ohio Railway in Diann, Michigan; the Norfolk Southern in Milan, Michigan; and the Great Lakes Central Railroad in Osmer, Michigan, just north of Ann Arbor.

Notes

References

* * * * {{Ohio railroads Michigan railroads Ohio railroads Railway companies established in 1988 Transportation in Livingston County, Michigan Transportation in Monroe County, Michigan Transportation in Benzie County, Michigan Transportation in Toledo, Ohio Transportation in Ann Arbor, Michigan Watco