This week Reading and Northern Railroad surpassed one million tons of anthracite moved over its railroad for the first time in its 33-year history.
Ever since December of 1990 when Andy Muller Jr purchased from Conrail the rail lines serving Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region it has been Muller’s goal to exceed a million tons of anthracite moved over the tracks. For many years prior to Conrail’s sale the tracks had been in disrepair and rail tonnage had been in decline.
When Muller, now Owner/CEO, acquired the lines he began investing in the properties. He brought the tracks back into operating condition and little by little he acquired freight cars to handle the coal business. And from the beginning he called the railroad “The Road of Anthracite “which was shown on RBMN locomotives starting in 1991.
Upon reaching this goal Muller said, “owning this rail line has been a dream come true. And watching our company grow has been the accomplishment of my lifetime. We now own over 400 miles of track, 1800 freight cars, more than 65 locomotives and employ over 350 full- and part-time employees. It’s thanks to those great employees that we have now accomplished that seemingly unattainable goal.”
RBMN President Wayne Michel noted, “it is thanks to Andy Muller’s laser focus on growing our business that we have been able to cross the million-ton threshold. Andy pursued this business like a true entrepreneur. He risked millions of dollars in buying hundreds of coal cars and investing in facilities both on and off the railroad, which was unprecedented in the industry. Andy has invested in infrastructure at distant ports not directly served by RBMN as well as customer facilities hundreds of miles away from the railroad. He has also invested in building the best coal marketing organization in the industry. Led by SVP Bill Clark, formerly of Norfolk Southern and PPL, the team includes VPs Jim Cerulli and Mike Sharadin and a team of customer service men and women who manage the fleet and the day-to-day business.
Thanks to the foundation provided by Andy we are well-positioned for continued growth in the years to
come.”
-via Press Release