CANADIAN National (CN) has signed and closed an agreement to acquire Iowa Northern (IANR), an approximately 440km US regional freight railway that interchanges with CN at Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. Terms were not disclosed.
IANR serves agricultural and industrial markets in the upper Midwest, moving commodities such as biofuel and grain, and handling more than 60,000 wagonloads per year.
According to CN, the transaction “represents a meaningful opportunity to support the growth of local business by creating single-line service to North American destinations, while preserving access to existing carrier options.”
The transaction has closed into an independent voting trust pending regulatory review and approval by the US Surface Transportation Board (STB). A decision is expected in 2024, CN says.
Established in 1984, IANR runs northwest to southeast through Iowa from Manly to Cedar Rapids, with branches from Waterloo to Oelwein and from Forest City to Belmond. IANR says when a group led by Mr Daniel Sabin, the current chairman, took over management in 1994, IANR handled 15,000 revenue cars a year and the average speed of its freight trains was below 16km/h.
Sabin is confident that, as part of CN, IANR will be able to continue to provide reliable first and last mile service to local customers while providing them with access to a much broader network and market.
IANR also interchanges with Union Pacific (UP) at Manly; with Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) at Nora Springs; and with UP and the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway at Cedar Rapids.
“We look forward to the opportunities our combined network will provide customers, farmers, and our partners to respond to the needs of their existing and new markets,” says CN president and CEO, Ms Tracy Robinson. “By enabling all of us to play an even more important role in this critical supply chain and densifying our southern network, we are accelerating sustainable, profitable growth.”
