April 8, 2024 - TRA Newswire -

Rail business keeps getting better in Texas. Near Austin in the Central Texas city of Taylor and in the Texas Panhandle at Stratford.

In Taylor, outside of Austin, three companies have purchased substantial tracts of land in the RCR Taylor Rail Logistics Park. The companies, with strong ties to Samsung Electronics, purchased 112 acres total in previous months from RCR, according to Williamson County Appraisal District records. The RCR rail park is close to a new Samsung Austin Semiconductor plant being built, which is expected to come online this year.

One of the companies is Soulbrain Holdings Co. Ltd., a chemical company supplier to Samsung. The 59 acre purchase has a number of rail sidings that can be used for shipping and receiving. Soulbrain also purchased another 26 acres on the other side of the rail yard. 

A third 15 acre parcel was purchased by the CEO of California-based ENC, Inc., Kwang Yul Choi. ENC is an ocean and airfreight company with offices in Austin and South Korea.

Samsung announced its $17 billion foundry would be built in Southwest Taylor in late 2021 and that prompted McAlister Assets to build its own rail spur and intermodal rail yard near U.S. 79 and FM 3349 that has access to the Union Pacific line.

The Williamson County economic development agency, Wilco, said that billions of dollars of investment, hundreds of jobs are possible at the logistics park. 

"For more than a half-decade, what's been called a "unicorn" in the Central Texas industrial ecosystem has been poised to boom", according to the Wilco website. "Now, the 750-acre RCR Taylor Logistics Park is living up to that potential."

Elon Musk's electric vehicle Tesla Gigafactory is another user of the RCR Taylor Rail Logistics Park. Tesla uses the auto ramps at the rail park to ship completed vehicles from its Travis County factory to delivery points around the country.

Rio Grande Pacific Industrial Rail Services (RPGC), a Fort Worth-based short line railroad company, provided switching and transloading services at the RCR rail park since 2021. 

Texas Rail Advocates has been reporting on the early stages of this now mega-rail park since 2020.  

At Stratford, in the Texas Panhandle, BNSF Railway reports that their customer, JDH, will build a a new grain handling facility in this town just south of the Oklahoma border. The facility will complement existing operations in New Mexico and Texas, and “enhance our service capabilities to the local agricultural sector, supporting local farmers, dairies, feed yards and other producers,” according to Dean McIntosh, Southwest JDH General Manager.

JDH will transport, store and process a variety of agricultural products at the site, which will feature a double looped rail track and high-speed unloading systems. Construction is expected to be completed within the next 12 months.JDH will transport, store and process a variety of agricultural products at the site, which will feature a double looped rail track and high-speed unloading systems. Construction is expected to be completed within the next 12 months.

“We are excited for this new partnership with JDH and are looking forward to the opportunities the facility will bring so we can better serve our friends in the local agricultural community,” BNSF General Director of Agricultural Products Marketing Matthew White said.

“Our roots are deeply intertwined with rural America, Class I railroads, and grain and commodity handling,” said Jefferson Hillman, CEO and fifth-generation family leader of JDH, which is based in Omaha, Neb. “This new facility in Sherman County is a perfect fit with our core business and a proud extension of our 137-year history.”

Photo credit: RCR Rail