Projo Biz Blog

P&W, based in Worcester, Mass., is a regional freight railroad operating in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. It transports a variety of commodities, including automobiles, construction materials, iron and steel products, chemicals, lumber, scrap metals, plastic resins, cement, coal, construction and demolition debris, processed foods, frozen foods, corn syrup and animal and vegetable oils.

P&W also operates two intermodal yards in Worcester, primarily for the movement of container traffic from the Far East destined for points in New England.

Angelini said the railcar lease agreements have a five-year term with rights to extend the contract. She declined to disclose the value of the agreements. The lease agreements will assure that P&W will have access to specialized railcars that are designed to transport automobiles. In October, the railroad began shipping cars to the port at the Quonset Business Park in North Kingstown, where they were offloaded and transferred to trucks.

The $5.5 million will be used to install a “drop table” in the company’s engine house in Worcester, she said. That mechanism is used to change out the wheels beneath a rail car. The money will also go toward increasing the vertical clearance by lowering the track bed along the Gardner, Mass. branch rail lines, and will also pay for general track improvements throughout the P&W system, Angelini said.

The investment is not an indication at P&W is trying to sell itself, Angelini said.
“P&W is absolutely not looking to sell. In fact, P&W believes GATX’s investment in P&W is an expression of its confidence in management and P&W’s prospects.”

In June 2006, P&W announced it was in discussions with RailAmerica with respect to “business opportunities.” Neither company would elaborate at the time, and Angelini said today that nothing ever came of those discussions.