Austin Western Railroad AWRR #71

Nature of Firm

The City of Austin owns the rail line from Giddings to Llano, Texas, (190 miles) and they contract AWRR to operate the freight railroad. The City of Austin has commuter train services between Leanders and Downtown Austin (also called the Central Corridor) that utilizes the same tracks as the freight railroad. Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates the commuter trains and they have dispatch authority on the Central Corridor.  The commuter train typically operates Monday - Saturday from 5:00 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. and freight trains are not able to operate over the Central Corridor during these commuter windows. AWRR interchanges with the Class I railroads at McNeil, Texas.

History

The line from Giddings to Austin was built by the Houston and Texas Central in 1871. The Austin Scobee line was built by the Austin & Northwestern, chartered April 20, 1881 and opened the following January. The Marble Falls branch was built by the affiliated Granite Mountain and Marble Falls Railroad which was merged with the original A&NW into the Houston & Texas Central on September 3, 1901. The H&TC was acquired by SP subsidiary. The City of Austin acquired the railroad in August of 1986. Capital Metropolitan Transit Authority acquired the railroad on May 20, 1998. Short Line service under RailTex A&NW started on August 15, 1986. Central Tennessee, doing business as Longhorn, took over from RailTex A&NW and commenced freight operations on May 6, 1996. Trans-Global Solutions, Inc operating as the Austin Area Terminal Railroad commenced operations in April 2000. Watco, operating as the Austin Western Railroad (AWRR) commenced operations on October 1, 2007.

Company Information

Websitewww.watcocompanies.com
Company AffiliationWatco Companies, LLC
Interchange PointsMcNeil, TX
Agreement TypeHandling Carrier
Information Exchange MethodRMI