P&W has approved the acquisition, but it must also pass the Surface Transportation Board (STB).

P&W employs around 140 staff and operates 32 locomotives. It owns 262km of track and has trackage rights covering 560km on other railways. P&W also has exclusive freight access on Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor between New Haven,

Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island, and trackage rights over Metro-North infrastructure.

GWI will fund the acquisition through its credit facility which had a $US 542m capacity at the end of the second quarter.

Handling about 43,000 carloads and intermodal units annually, P&W serves a variety of aggregates, automotive, chemicals, lumber and metals customers on the east coast, providing rail service to three ports: Providence, Davisville and New Haven.

t also serves a US-Customs-bonded intermodal terminal in Worcester, which accepts inbound intermodal containers for distribution throughout New England.