If you have any announcements you wish to post, please feel free to contact Tina Lueth at
(320) 864-7209 or e-mail tlueth@tcwr.net.

TWIN CITIES & WESTERN RAILROAD
NAMES BERGERON DIRECTOR OF SALES

GLENCOE, Minn.--The Twin Cities & Western Railroad Company has appointed Robin L. Bergeron as director of Sales, a newly created position, effective April 14. She is based at the Glencoe, Minn. headquarters of the 229-mile regional railroad and reports to Robert Henry, vice president Marketing and Sales.

Ms. Bergeron joins Twin Cities & Western with 26 years of railroad experience. Since 2000, she served as Marketing and Sales manager for RailAmerica’s subsidiaries Dallas, Garland & Northeastern Railroad; Texas Northeastern Railroad; and Otter Tail Valley Railroad.

She began her railroad career in 1982 as agent and office manager for Dakota Rail at Milbank, S.D. In 1992, she was promoted to Dakota Rail’s general manager at Hutchinson, Minn. and in 2000 was transferred to Texas.

The Twin Cites & Western and its Minnesota Prairie Line affiliate operate 323 route miles of track in central Minnesota and eastern South Dakota.

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Railway Age's 2008 Short Line Railroad of the Year!

The Twin Cities & Western Railroad was recently announced the 2008 Short Line
Railroad of the Year by Railway Age, a national railroad publication. TCW will be presentated with
a specially designed plaque at the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association's
annual meeting in San Antonio, TX in May.

Watch for TCW's featured story in Railway Age's April 2008 issue.
 
Click here to view Railway Age’s announcement.

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Cars Hauled on MPL in 2007 totaled 5,842!
February 6, 2008

The January 24, 2008 article, 5,842 cars were shipped on local rail line last year, from
The Gaylord Hub reports..."'We're heading in the right direction.' Those are the comments from
Bob Suko of the Minnesota Prairie Line. 5,842 cars were shipped on the Minnesota Prairie Line
in 2007, an increase from about 3,200 in 2006."
To view the entire article, CLICK HERE

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Train Schedule for Christmas & New Years
December 18, 2007

TCWR and MPLI plan to run a full schedule of trains on Sunday, December 23 and the goal would be not to run trains on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.  If necessary, we could run a limited number of trains during the day on Christmas Eve, but will not be running any late pm or evening trains on Christmas Eve and plan no train service on Christmas Day.  December 26 we will be back to normal train service on both Railroads.

Sunday, December 30 we will be running a full schedule of trains.  Monday, January 31, we will run some daytime trains, but do not plan to run any evening trains.  Tuesday, January 1, we plan no train service.  Wednesday, January 2 we will back to normal train service on both Railroads.

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Car Orders
November 26, 2007

Car orders are filling up fast and everyone is curious on what they can order.  Listed below you can see which months are still open.  Even if the month is full, you can still order cars and TCW will give you a permit number.  However, it will list on the order that it will only fill if we are able to fill if cars are available.  If these orders are not filled, they will not flow into the next month but will be dropped.  If we know the demand is out there, we will work diligently to try to procure cars from other Railroads and will do our best to keep our own cars moving for faster turn around times.

Railroad       December /07     January/08        February/08       March/08      April – December, 2008 
TCWR                Full                       Full                      Full                        Full         Plenty of room as of 11/26/2007
MPLI                  Full                       Full                      Full                        Full         Plenty of room as of 11/26/2007

Guarantee your car orders by bidding on the Guarantee Car Supply!
Bidding occurs the first day of every month from 8:00-12:00 noon.

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500 Injury Free Workdays!
TCW recently passed 500 days of injury free operation.
This has been a significant accomplishment by each and every one of us!

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MOVERS & SHAKERS
September 28, 2007

Minneapolis-St.Paul Business Journal announces BOB HENRY, TCW's Vice President of Marketing & Sales, one of ten movers and shakers who have made-and are making--Carver County's economic development.

The August 17, 2007 article in the Minneapolis-St.Paul Business Journal reports that Bob's love affiar with railroads "has bloomed into a busy carrer of pushing the opportunities offered by the Twin Cities & Western Railroad Co., the Glencoe, Minn.-based company that is the only railroad left operating in Carver County." Bob said, "I see my role as a facilitator, helping communities and businesses understand the economics of rail and benefit from that."
To read more, CLICK HERE

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AT THE TOP
The Twin Cities & Western Railroad Co., Glencoe, promoted Mark Wegner from executive vice president and chief operating officer to president. He will also serve as president of Minnesota Prairie Line Inc., a TC&W affiliate.

Andrew Thompson has been promoted to chief executive officer of the Red River Valley & Western Railroad, Twin Cities & Western Railroad and Minnesota Prairie Lines Inc., effective May 1. He will remain president and chief operating officer of Red River Valley & Western.

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Mileage-based Fuel Surcharge Tariff

NOTICE: Effective April 26, 2007, TCW and MPLI are implementing a new mileage-based fuel surcharge tariff, TCWR/MPLI 9020.

For information regarding the application of the fuel surcharge, please contact Robert Henry at 320-864-7234 or Craig Glaeser at 320-864-7206.

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CHANGES TO GRAIN TARIFFS
November 17, 2006

TCWR
Changes have been made to page 14, Item 140 (car cancellation rule) and pages 16, 17 and 17A, Item 210 (ordering cars) of TCWR Grain Tariff 4000-E.  The car cancellation rule has been changed with a car cancellation charge of $200 per car if cancellation is made less than 30 days of the want date and the car ordering has been extended out to a 1 year period versus the previous 6 month period.  These changes will also be made in our MPLI Tariff 4222B.

MPLI
Changes have been made to page 14, Item 140 (car cancellation rule) and pages 17, 18 and 19, Item 210 (ordering cars) of the MPLI Grain Tariff 4222-B.  The car cancellation rule has been changed with a car cancellation charge of $200 per car if cancellation is made less than 30 days of the want date and the car ordering has been extended out to a 1 year period versus the previous 6 month period.

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MODIFICATIONS TO CAR ORDER FORM

To better serve our customers, TCW has modified the car order form located on the website. As a repeat customer, one no longer has to complete the entire form in order to submit an on-line car order. Only the absolute essential items are now required.

Thank you to our customers for providing us the suggestions and opportunites to make the TCW website more customer-friendly!

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TWIN CITIES & WESTERN RAILROAD MARKS 15TH ANNIVERSARY

Train rides for customers, employees, government leaders and railroad officials

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE—

GLENCOE, Minn., July 20--The Twin Cities & Western normally is freight service only, but on July 21-22-23 the 229-mile regional railroad will celebrate its 15th anniversary by running a series of diesel-powered passenger trains. Regularly scheduled passenger service ended on the line in 1969. The trains will operate between St. Louis Park and Cologne, and between Cologne and Glencoe.

“It’s our way of thanking customers, employees, government leaders and railroad officials who helped make our railroad a success,” says TC&W Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Wegner.

The general public will have an opportunity to ride similar trains on July 29-30 when the city of Cologne, Minn. marks its 125th anniversary. As a bonus, the trains will be pulled by Milwaukee Road steam locomotive No. 261, built in 1944 (see www.261.com).

The Twin Cities & Western is one of more than 500 smaller railroads operating in the United States--many of them formed after passage of the Staggers Act deregulating railroads in 1986.

The TC&W began operation on July 27, 1991 over former Milwaukee Road track acquired from the Soo Line, now Canadian Pacific Railway. “We have a strong partnership with the Canadian Pacific that has benefited the TC&W and customers along the line,” noted Wegner. “We greatly appreciate their support.”

TC&W’s main line extends from the Twin Cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis to Milbank, S.D. Branch lines run north and south from St. Louis Park, Minn., serving major grain terminals on the Mississippi River at Camden Place in Minneapolis and at Savage, on the Minnesota River.

We especially want to thank the more than 30 communities along our line and their elected representatives who have helped to provide a positive business environment,” said Wegner. “This has allowed TC&W to offer responsive and efficient rail service that is essential to rural America and attracts new business development, such as ethanol plants.”

Employment, freight volume rise

Since start up, employment has doubled from 30 to 60 people, most of whom are based at the railroad’s headquarters in Glencoe. “We have a very loyal and efficient work force,” said Wegner. “They have been the key to our growth.” Payroll and fringe benefits on the TC&W in 2005 were $3.3 million.

The railroad has nearly doubled its freight volume since 1991 to approximately 22,000 carloads annually. Service has increased from three days a week to six days on most of the line.

“A number of major customers have located along our line, or expanded their businesses,” Wegner said. These include Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Coop at Renville, Lyman Lumber at Chanhassen, Granite Falls Ethanol Plant at Granite Falls, and several grain elevators. In addition, Heartland Corn Products is building a 90-million gallon ethanol plant at Winthrop that is scheduled to start this fall.

Between 1991 and 2005, the TC&W has spent approximately $22 million to improve trackwork and acquire freight cars and locomotives. The railroad has leased and purchased nearly 600 freight cars, including 512 covered hopper cars to transport grain. TC&W’s fleet of eight locomotives has been upgraded with newer Generation II units featuring more fuel-efficient Caterpillar diesel engines, which can run on a blend of 5% biodiesel that is supplied locally by FUMPA Biofuels in Redwood Falls.

Minnesota Prairie Line subsidiary

The railroad expanded in 2001 when the Minnesota Valley Regional Rail Authority selected TC&W’s Minnesota Prairie Line subsidiary to operate 94 miles of track between Norwood and Hanley Falls, Minn.  Restoration of the line, which had been idle for several years, began in April 2002. The first train was operated in October 2002.

The line continues to be upgraded with assistance from the Minnesota Department of Transportation Rail Service Improvement Program, the Federal Railroad Administration, shippers along the line, MVRRA and the TC&W. Julie Rath, administrator for MVRRA, observed, “Rail traffic has been increasing now that dependable rail service has been restored.”

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Customer Service E-mail Address
January 6, 2006

Using this Customer Service Email address will help us insure we meet the needs and expectations of our customers.

Email messages sent to customerservice@tcwr.net  will be viewed by Diane McCall, Manager Transportation Services, Craig Glaeser, Director Marketing, Bob Suko, General Manager Operations, the Operations Staff, i.e., Dale Johnson, Alan Godel, Jeff Shurtleff, Susan Clark , and Robert Henry.  

Thank you for the business!

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Cooperative Marketing Agreement

Eff ective July 1, 2005 under a Cooperative Marketing Agreement the UP will market MPLI and TCWR Stations between Norwood and Hanley Falls , MN and between Hopkins and Appleton , MN (For the establishment of Origin and Destination single line rates). TCWR stations in the Minneapolis/St Paul Switching District and TCWR stations; Correll, Odessa , Ortonville , MN and Milbank , S.D. will not apply to this agreement.  The UP will do the marketing and pricing, publish rates, do all the billing of loads and empties, and collect freight revenues.  They will also become involved in car supply.  Under this Cooperative Marketing Agreement the TC&W/MPLI will physically serve all stations, however we will not be shown in the routing.  For rates via UP please contact your UP Account Manager, UP Marketing Department or use the UP web site at UP.COM.

If you have any questions, please contact Mark Wegner , Craig Glaeser or Robert Henry at the 320-864-7200 .