The Austin Western Railroad is a Class III

short-line railroad A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are ...

headquartered in

Round Rock Round Rock is a city in Williamson County, Texas, Williamson and Travis County, Texas, United States, part of the Greater Austin metropolitan area. Its population is 119,468 according to the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The city stra ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. AWRR is a subsidiary of

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 ...

. It is the contracted operator of of ex-Southern Pacific trackage, now owned by

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, officially stylized as CapMetro, is a public transportation provider located in Austin, Texas. It operates bus, paratransit services and a hybrid rail system known as CapMetro Rail in Austin an ...

. AWRR operates the line from Fairland, Texas to Giddings, Texas, in addition to of branchline from Fairland to

Marble Falls, Texas Marble Falls is a city in Burnet County, Texas, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city population was 7,037. The 2024 population was estimated to be 9,413. Lake Marble Falls is part of the Highland Lakes on the Colorado ...

. Another of track remain out of service between Fairland and Llano, having most recently seen revenue service in 2005. This portion comprises the Austin and Northwestern Railroad Historic District. The AWRR interchanges with the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

and

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

; both at McNeil, Texas. The AWRR shares trackage with the CapMetro Rail Red Line between Leander and Austin. The Austin Steam Train Association (ASTA) operates excursion trains between Cedar Park and Burnet.

History

The Austin Western Railroad was founded in 2007, with Watco winning the bid to operate the line after the Austin Area Terminal Railroad's contract with Capital Metro ended.

Traffic

AWRR traffic includes aggregates, crushed limestone,

calcium bicarbonate Calcium bicarbonate, also called calcium hydrogencarbonate, has the chemical formula Ca(HCO3)2. The term does not refer to a known solid compound; it exists only in aqueous solution containing calcium (Ca2+), bicarbonate (), and carbonate () io ...

, lumber, beer, chemicals, plastics and paper. An incomplete list of AWRR customers, as of March 2024:

Roster

References

External links

Austin Western Railroad website

Link to Union Pacific Website with AUAR Details

Austin Steam Train Association
{{US Class III - Texas Texas railroads Watco