Michigan-based Class II Lake State Railway Company (LSRC), Railway Age’s 2021 Regional of the Year and 2018 Short Line of the Year, celebrates the upcoming 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Also, the SEDA-Council of Governments (SEDA-COG) announces that the SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority (JRA) will become a fully independent entity.
LSRC
LSRC recently unveiled via social media LSRC SD70M 1776 with a special historical-based paint scheme in red, white and blue celebrating American independence. It was designed by second-generation LSRC railroader Travis Vongrey, a former conductor, engineer and yardmaster and now a supervisor of yard operations. Vongrey also designed a locomotive for the railroad that rolled out earlier this year in a heritage scheme inspired by the Pere Marquette Railway, one of LSRC’s antecedents (see photograph below).
LSRC was established in 1992 and operates a 373-mile rail network spanning the eastern corridor of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The company, backed by Antin Infrastructure Partners since 2022, provides freight transportation, railcar storage, and transloading services, and transports such commodities as grain, fertilizer, coal, chemicals, aggregates, cement, steel, and scrap metal.
SEDA-COG
The SEDA-COG JRA will become a fully independent entity effective Jan. 1, 2026, according to SEDA-COG, a community and economic development agency in Lewisburg, Pa., and a Local Development District for 11 central Pennsylvania counties.
SEDA-COG created the JRA in June 1983, in direct response to Conrail’s abandonment of several unprofitable rail lines in Central Pennsylvania, the Local Development District reported Oct. 23. “Recognizing the critical need to maintain freight rail service in the region, SEDA-COG took action by forming the SEDA-COG JRA, an official municipal authority, to purchase and operate those lines,” it said. “This move preserved freight service in the region and established the JRA as a nationally recognized public-private partnership.”
The JRA has grown from two lines serving freight shippers along 80 miles of track, to today’s six lines serving freight shippers along 200 miles of track. The six railroads, in cooperation with strategic partner and operator North Shore Railroad, support more than 100 customers and 12,600 jobs in the region.
The JRA will continue its mission “to preserve and foster rail service in Central Pennsylvania and to further economic development through retention, improvement and expansion of the infrastructure and the rail service it supports,” according to SEDA-COG.
SEDA-COG reported that it will have no formal role in the JRA’s operations after the transition but noted that “existing relationships with freight shippers and local partners will remain unchanged.” Any updates to contact information or administrative details will be provided directly by the JRA later this year, it added.
The Susquehanna Greenway Partnership and Focus Central PA are two other initiatives that began under SEDA-COG and later became independent.
Separately, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in December 2024 awarded the JRA $2 million to rehabilitate seven bridges and one culvert on the Juniata Valley Railroad and Nittany Bald Eagle Railroad.
