From the President's Desk

Welcome to our website!

At the Rock Island, we are excited to bring you quality transport service everyday.   That is why we are working harder than ever to accomplish our goal of speed and reliability.   Looking to 2009, we have a $1.7 billion capital program to rebuild our physical plant, upgrade capacity, and acquire new rolling stock.   This is being paid for in part by our revenues, selling of old stock, and our most appreciated investors.

The 2008 capital program includes completing the Central Corridor, new double track in the Gulf Division, and new Class 6 track in the Midwest:

•  Central Corridor: In 2008, your Rock Island completed double-track segments between Des Moines and Atlantic, IA.   In 2009, double-track will be completed west to Omaha, allowing more freight and the start of intercity passenger trains from Omaha to Chicago over the Rock Island.  The improvements finished in 2009 will decrease high priority freight travel time from Chicago to Omaha from 12 hours to 8 hours.

•  Gulf Division: double-track between Lewisville and Brinkley, AR (east of Little Rock) will be finished in summer of 2009, enabling more Rock Island trains to run through the busy Memphis/St. Louis to Houston corridor.

•  New rolling stock: Rock Island will take delivery of 50 new General Electric C44ACES locomotives in 2009 in addition to 8 new Genset low-emission switchers for the Chicago area.   Continuing our mission of planned progress, we will also be trading in older rolling stock such as coal hoppers, boxcars, double-stack cars, and covered hoppers for newer, more efficient equipment.

We are excited to have you on board as the Rock Island, after 155 years, continues to expand and grow to ensure fast and dependable service you can count on.   Let's make it a beginning!

Highest regards,