The is a
Class II Railroad operating in the central
United States . The railroad is owned by
Railroad Development Corporation of
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania .
The railroad was formed on
November 2 ,
1984 , using former
Rock Island Railroad Tracks between
Chicago, Illinois , and
Omaha, Nebraska . It was in partnership with
Real Estate firm
Heartland Rail Corporation that the IAIS was able to operate. Heartland purchased the
Right-of-way and infrastructure for
$ 31 million (of which, $15 million was a loan from the
Iowa Railway Finance Authority ), and then leased it to IAIS for operations.
The railroad's mainline is roughly a straight line between these two terminal cities with a
Branch Line connecting
Bureau to
Peoria, Illinois . In recognition of the railroad's Rock Island Railroad heritage, the IAIS logo uses a shape similar to the original railroad's logo.
Operations on the railroad are controlled by
Track Warrant s rather than
Signals . When the IAIS took control of the track, the signal system was already damaged beyond repair, so the trains were operated by warrant control. A
Centralized Traffic Control system has yet to be installed on the railroad's mainline.
Beginning in the mid
1990s , the IAIS mainline has been identified as a potential route for
High Speed Passenger Train service between
Wyanet, Illinois (where the IAIS connects to the
BNSF Railway ), the
Quad Cities and
Iowa City, Iowa , as part of the
Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MRRI). The ultimate goal of the MRRI is to establish passenger train routes in a
Hub-and-spoke formation with Chicago as the hub that allow for speeds up to and above 110
Mph (177
Km/h ). However, estimates made in
2003 to upgrade the IAIS mainline to allow passenger train speeds of 79 mph (127 km/h) between Wyanet and Iowa City have ranged as high as $61.7 million, nearly double the right of way's initial purchase price from 1984.
The IAIS and the railroad infrastructure were purchased from Heartland by Railroad Development Corporation in 2003.
IAIS subsidiary
Rail Traffic Control provides consulting services for dispatching and operating small- to medium-sized railroads worldwide.
In
2004 , IAIS was awarded the
Gold Harriman Award for its safe operational record.
Presidents of the Iowa Interstate Railroad:
Current Officers
- Association of American Railroads (, 2005 . General overview.
- Bi-State Regional Rail Commission (, 2005 . Details of the passenger rail studies.
- Botting, Laura, Moline Dispatch Publishing Co. (, 2005 . Details of the purchase from Rock Island and Miller's predecessor as president.
- Iowa Department of Rail, '' Railroad Profiles - Iowa Interstate Railroad Ltd. (IAIS) ''. Retrieved May 23 , 2005 . Overview of the railroad, mention of RDC purchase year.
- Iowa Interstate Railroad, '' About IAIS ''. Retrieved May 23 , 2005 . General overview.
- Iowa Interstate Railroad (). Retrieved May 23 , 2005 . Announced Miller's presidency.
- Iowa Interstate Railroad (). Retrieved May 23 , 2005 . Announced Roy's retirement from the presidency.
- '' IAIS Railfan's Guide ''. Retrieved May 23 , 2005 . Details the current operations of the railroad.
