Charlotte Western Railroad (CER), a wholly owned subsidiary of Jaguar Transport Holdings (Jaguar), began rail operations on May 2nd, 2022. It acquired leasehold rights to approximately 13 miles of track owned by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT).
“We are excited for the opportunity to establish our first operation in North Carolina and the southeastern US,” said Stu Towner, CEO of Jaguar. “The railroad’s location, in a growing metro with access to both Norfolk Southern and CSX, along with the acquisition of a rail served warehouse, provides us with an excellent opportunity to serve current and future customers and earn the right to grow alongside them and the local community. We will immediately move forward with a large project in partnership with NCDOT to build a new multi-commodity and multi-mode transload facility on our warehouse property which will create highly efficient solutions for the customers we are bringing to the property. This project, along with our focused commercial efforts to build sites along the railroad that are ready for new customers, makes this a fantastic solution for customers in the Charlotte market.”
Charlotte Western is the eighth shortline railroad for Jaguar, who has partnered with OPTrust, one of Canada’s largest pension plans. Other Jaguar railroads include Missouri Eastern Railroad, Cimarron Valley Railroad, Southwestern Railroad, Washington Eastern Railroad, Oregon Eastern Railroad, Texas Eastern Railroad, and West Memphis Base Railroad.
-via Press Release