Discover key transportation assets and freight rail highlights within the St. Louis region’s extensive freight network and available industrial sites, supporting regional economic growth and logistics efficiency.
[ST. LOUIS, MO/August 13, 2023] The Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis (TRRA) and the St. Louis Regional Freightway hosted a Freight Rail Tour August 5 to provide insights into the significance of the region’s freight rail network and its role in connecting manufacturers, distributors and logistics providers to national and global markets. While raising awareness of one of the nation’s largest rail hubs and its developer-ready, rail-served sites, the tour also highlighted investment needs and opportunities for freight rail and associated roads and bridges that are part of the St. Louis region’s freight network.
The event kicked off at St. Louis Union Station, where representatives of TRRA and the St. Louis Regional Freightway welcomed dozens of attendees, including multimodal transportation industry leaders, St. Louis regional elected officials and their staff, leadership from the Maritime Administration and Waterways Council, Inc., and various members of the construction, engineering and manufacturing industries within the region. Several members of the TRRA leadership team also provided commentary during the tour, which included multiple points of interest on both the Illinois and Missouri sides of the Mississippi River. They identified rail yards, rail connections to shippers and carriers, conveyor belts and barge terminals, rail bridges and highway infrastructure all providing modal flexibility, and efficient and reliable freight movements. Guests enjoyed a unique vantage point to view those transportation assets and gain insights into critical infrastructure investments underway or planned in the region.
TRRA President Brent Wood discussed the importance of rail and barge infrastructure coordination and how events like this spotlight this unique relationship and the collaboration that exists between St. Louis regional rail and barge leaders. “This collaboration results in cost savings and supply chain reliability when commodities like agriculture products, chemicals, coal and steel are moved from one mode to another,” Wood said. “The impacts are significant, benefiting the region and the nation’s role with competitiveness in the global supply chain.”
Mary Lamie, Executive Vice President of Multimodal Enterprises for Bi-State Development and head of the St. Louis Regional Freightway, provided additional context. “Over the last several years, we’ve moved the needle on infrastructure investment because industry leaders across the region identified priority projects early and advocated for them years before the funding opportunities existed,” Lamie said. “When those opportunities became available, the partnerships and engagement were already in place, allowing us to compete and win.”
She added that infrastructure is only part of the equation; sites must also be developer-ready, and her organization has led a collaborative effort to compile a list of 21 locations offering 29 sites with rail potential ready for development. “The collaboration taking place on both sides of the river is making a real difference and creating opportunities that will benefit the region for years to come,” Lamie said.
Guests on board crossed into St. Clair County, Ill., via the MacArthur Bridge, which helps link America’s eastern and western freight rail networks and serves the six Class I Railroads and Amtrak. It is set to undergo a $75 million rehabilitation. They also learned about the $222 million Merchants Bridge replacement project completed in 2022. The project doubled the capacity of the bridge, seismically retrofitted the piers and will ensure reliable rail connections across the Mississippi River into the next century.
The tour passed by the site of the Illinois Transfer: 3rd Main Railroad Track, where TRRA is embarking on a project to improve the connection between the TRRA Madison Yard in Venice, Illinois, and the Willows Interlocking in East St. Louis, Illinois. The project will help to improve freight bottlenecks downstream to the new double track Merchants Bridge by addressing yard congestion due to today’s longer trains, reduce emissions and reduce blocked crossings.
Another highlight of the tour included the Multimodal Freight Yard at TRRA’s Madison Yard in Venice, Illinois. Madison Yard inbounds approximately 1,000 railcars and departs an additional 1,000 railcars to six Class I railroads daily, including BNSF, CN, CSX, NS, UP and CPKC. A project to expand the Multimodal Freight Yard aims to construct additional rail car storage capacity on adjacent TRRA-owned property and increase capacity of the yard by 500 rail cars. Phase I of the project is underway. Among the many benefits this project would deliver are more efficient handling of inbound/outbound rail cars, reduced delays in at-grade crossings and a reduction of harmful emissions, improving quality of life.
The rail freight tour rolled through the Ag Coast of America – home to 16 barge transfer facilities that, at total capacity, can handle more than 150 barges per day, providing the highest level of barge-handling capacity anywhere along the Mississippi River.
Jessica Stephan, dry bulk logistics director for Bunge North America, was one of the participants in the tour. Bunge has its global headquarters in Chesterfield, Mo., a research and development facility in St. Charles, Mo., and also has a grain elevator in the Ag Coast – Bunge SCF, which is located in Fairmont City, Ill., and services customers from hundreds of miles away. Stephan oversees all of the inland domestic shipments that are tributaries to the company’s export terminals, and she talked about the advantages of being located in the St. Louis region.
“First and foremost, St. Louis is an agribusiness hub,” Stephan said. “It is one of the largest inland port facilities in the United States. We have all the major rail lines that run through here, all the interstates and, of course, the mighty Mississippi. Transporting barges up and down the Mississippi River is the most efficient mode of transportation. That’s top of our mind whenever we are creating any type of strategy for what’s the most efficient way to get a farmer’s grain to market.”
Patrick Scates of Elite River Services was another of the guests on board. His company is in the river terminal business, helping to move commodities such as fertilizer and grain for other companies, and he is hoping to add a new terminal location in the St. Louis region.
“It is a strategic location for the ag community,” Scates said. “The river is subject to seasonal closures just north of St. Louis. Access to the St. Louis regional ports, along with the connection to all six Class I railroads here in St. Louis is a competitive advantage for the region. There’s only two places – Chicago and St. Louis – where all the Class I railroads converge. In addition, you have the interstates and the bridges right here. It’s really a transportation hub for the Midwest.”
While crossing the Merchant’s Bridge, guests caught a glimpse of America’s Central Port to the north, where several other investments are planned or underway. America’s Central Port Executive Director Dennis Wilmsmeyer was also on board and appreciated the opportunity to connect with other guests, including the young congressional staff members.
“The one thing I want to leave the younger group here with is the interconnectedness of transportation,” Wilmsmeyer said. “The barge can’t survive without rail. Rail can’t necessarily survive without the barge. And the trucking piece is critical to that as well.” He also discussed the importance of the region’s rail-served sites being used for developments that can take full advantage of that rail connectivity.
Dupo, Ill., Mayor Dawn Keys was a guest on the tour and she and others on board discussed the importance of bringing the new Dupo Interchange – another of the region’s priority projects – to the community. As Dupo continues to attract new manufacturing facilities, it would help to resolve some of the traffic issues, benefiting both the community and trucks serving the Union Pacific Intermodal Yard located in Dupo.
“We really need to get that overpass so we can get traffic open on Main Street,” Keys said. “Public safety wise, that’s a huge asset. Economically, we have to have it to keep thriving.”
The Waterways Council, Inc., served as presenting sponsor for the tour and brought several members of the trade media on board for the experience.
“I’m learning a lot about a different mode of transportation from what we focus on, but it’s all connected and it’s all vitally important, not just to St. Louis for the region, but to the entire country,” said Paul Rohde, Vice President – Midwest Area, Waterways Council, Inc. “Events like this where you can actually experience it, not just conceptually talk about it, really help people get their brain wrapped around what we’re talking about, whether it’s rail, roads, runways or rivers. Democracy’s not a spectator sport. You’ve got to get engaged. And the first part of that engagement is an understanding and appreciation of the infrastructure.”
Former congressman John Shimkus, who also was on board, commented on the importance of events such as the rail tour in raising awareness about the region’s exceptional freight network. “This is an untold story,” he said.
All attendees also received a comprehensive booklet that highlighted the multimodal connectivity of the region and provided additional details on several of the projects and industrial sites visible from the train. Several major road construction projects were featured, including the $1.26 billion in improvements coming to the northern I-270 corridor running from Missouri to Illinois; $1.18 billion in improvements coming to I-70, from Wentzville, Missouri, to the Stan Musial Veterans Memorial Bridge; and the $305.5 million Relocated Illinois Rte. 3 project, which includes new construction of a four-mile corridor of Illinois Rte. 3 from River Park Connector in East St. Louis, Illinois, south to Monsanto Ave. in Sauget, Illinois. That fully funded project will decrease congestion, improve safety, address clearance issues and better accommodate freight and truck movements.
The majority of the projects highlighted on the tour are included in the St. Louis Regional Freightway’s Priority Projects List, which includes more than 29 projects totaling over $9 billion and represents the infrastructure needs of the manufacturing and logistics industries in the Eastern Missouri and Southwestern Illinois area.
To learn more about the Priority Projects List and the specific projects that encompass it, visit 2027 Priority Projects List. To learn more about the St. Louis region’s rail served industrial sites, click here.
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