The Kiamichi Railroad Company 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

Hugo, Oklahoma Hugo is a city in and the county seat of Choctaw County, Oklahoma, Choctaw County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located in southeastern Oklahoma, approximately north of the Texas state line. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, t ...

. KRR operates two lines totaling which intersect in Hugo, as well as maintaining trackage rights on an additional of track. The main line (186 miles) runs from

Hope, Arkansas Hope is a city in Hempstead County, Arkansas, Hempstead County in southwestern Arkansas, United States. Hope is the county seat of Hempstead County and the principal city of the Hope Hope micropolitan area, Micropolitan Statistical Area, which in ...

(where it interchanges with

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, 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 Stat ...

) to Lakeside, Oklahoma, then along 20 miles of

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 ...

trackage rights to a BNSF interchange point at Madill, Oklahoma. Along this line, KRR interchanges with Union Pacific at Durant, Oklahoma, with

Kansas City Southern Railway The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operated in 10 Midwestern United States, Midwestern and Southeastern United States, Southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Ark ...

at Ashdown, Arkansas, and with De Queen and Eastern Railroad via Texas, Oklahoma and Eastern Railroad at Valliant, Oklahoma. Additionally, it interchanges with the shortline

WFEC Railroad Company WFEC Railroad Company-- reporting mark: WFEC-- is a Class III industrial rail line running 14.98 miles from Western Farmers Electric Cooperative's Hugo Power Plant at Fort Towson, Oklahoma, near Hugo, to an interchange with the Texas, Oklahoma ...

at Valliant, and is the Primary Operating Railroad on that line. A 40-mile branch line runs from Antlers, Oklahoma to

Paris, Texas Paris is a city and county seat of Lamar County, Texas, United States. Located in Northeast Texas at the western edge of the Piney Woods, the population of the city was 24,171 in 2020. History Present-day Lamar County was part of Red River ...

. The line was a former main line of the Frisco railway; KRR started operations in 1987. KRR traffic generally consists of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

, glass,

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

pulpwood Pulpwood can be defined as timber that is ground and processed into a fibrous pulp. It is a versatile natural resource commonly used for Papermaking, paper-making but also made into low-grade wood and used for chips, energy, pellets, and engineered ...

, stone and food products. The KRR hauled around 53,000 carloads in 2008. KRR was purchased by

RailAmerica RailAmerica, Inc., based in Jacksonville, Florida, was a holding company of a number of short-line railroads and regional railroads in the United States and Canada. In 2007, RailAmerica was acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Before that, it t ...

, a short-line railroad

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

, in 2002. Another holding company, Genesee & Wyoming Inc., purchased RailAmerica in late 2012. As of 2025, Genesee & Wyoming's Kiamichi Railroad holds a total of 234 miles (56 in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

, 157 in

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

, and 21 in

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 ...

), has a maximum capacity of 263,000 in Antlers Branch (286,000 elsewhere). KRR has a few interchanges, as well:

BNSF 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 routes that provide ...

( Madill, Oklahoma); CPKC ( Ashdown, Arkansas);

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, ...

( Durant, Oklahoma and

ASLRRA Business Development Award

In 2018, due to increasing demand for poultry products,

Tyson Foods Tyson Foods, Inc. is an American multinational corporation based in Springdale, Arkansas that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second-largest processor and marketer of broiler industry, chicken, beef, and pork after JBS ...

desired to locate a new mill in

to be able to support the increase. Needing to receive unit trains to do so, Tyson searched for assistance with this project. Kiamichi Railroad offered Tyson flexibility within their properties for further development. Tyson began construction on the new mill in June 2020, with Kiamichi investing roughly $9 million in improvements that support the increase of demand. This includes over 180 miles of track with a capacity of 286k and the strengthening of more than 80 bridges. On May 10, 2022, the Kiamichi Railroad began a $65 million feed mill in McNab, Arkansas, as a multi-year project with

. As a result of this project, the Kiamichi Railroad was awarded the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) Business Development Award in 2023.

References

External links

Website
Arkansas railroads Oklahoma railroads Texas railroads RailAmerica Spin-offs of the Burlington Northern Railroad Railway companies established in 1987 1987 establishments in Oklahoma {{Oklahoma-transport-stub