Phoenix, Arizona. — The intense heat wave enveloping much of the country is snarling transportation in some areas by causing metal railroad rails and asphalt roads to expand and buckle.

Arizona-based GS&M Transportation Co. Railroad says the heat has forced it to slow its trains in heat-affected areas by 10 to 20 mph. Company spokesman Gabe Graza said Wednesday that extreme heat can cause metal rails to expand and kink at weak spots.   full article ...

Industrial Development

GS&M has industrial sites at many locations throughout our service territory. Whether you need an existing building or a vacant site, we can assist you in finding a suitable location. We work with local real estate companies, state and local agencies, and utilities to develop a package that will benefit your company.

The lists of sites that are available along the GS&M. The first list contains sites that have buildings.; the second shows vacant property or "greenfield" sites.

If you wish to learn more about any of these sites, or do not see something suitable in these lists, contact our Marketing & Sales Department . ext.310

Effective MBFSC FSC
7/1/11 $0.52 31.6%
8/1/11 $0.49 29.6%   full article ...

The last steam engine built for Union Pacific is about to chug across southern Wyoming on its way to Cheyenne.

The UP 844 locomotive is scheduled to stop in Evanston, Green River and Rock Springs on Monday. On Tuesday, stops are planned in Rawlins, Laramie and Cheyenne.

Early Monday, UP 844 was in Ogden, Utah, to mark the 141st anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad.

The locomotive was delivered for Union Pacific in 1944. The engine pulled passenger trains at first but in the 1950s was switched to freight duty in Nebraska.
UP 844 is now used for excursion runs on special occasions by Union Pacific, which is based in Omaha.   full article ...

The community of Basin is about to take another hit. Six weeks from today, GS&M Transportation is shutting down its cargo ramp and loading docks. In a letter to Basin officials, the company blames the economic downture.

Tim Buffet the Sr. VP Marketing and Sales says business has continued to decline drastically since 2005 and decreased even further with the closing of the Kent Copper facility in 2007."

The news came as a surprise to the community and to businesses that rely on the rail for shipping. "It did catch us by surprise," says Jose Hernadez with Basin Development Corporation. He says those businesses are now scrambling to find alternate shipping. The next closest intermodal ramps are in Old Pueblo. "There are alternates that way, but it's like when you have something in your backyard you hate to lose it," Hernadez says.

The Basin Development Corporation is working with local and state leaders to try and extend the May 1st closing deadline to help the affected businesses.

HERMOSA, AZ — The railroad tracks at Front St. and Del Monte Boulevard will be closed this week for maintenance, city officials said today, March 2.

The intersection has been closed as of 11 a.m. this morning for maintenance, according to the Hermosa police.

Maintenance by the GS&M Transportation Co. will keep the intersection shut down the rest of the week, said Hermosa Traffic Engineer Barbi Doll.

The tracks at 2nd Street and Canners Row will close for maintenance on a date to be determined in the future, Doll said.

For now, motorists can use the Central Avenue to cross the tracks into downtown or access Del Monte Boulevard .   full article ...

Railroad competition around Tucson is expected to pick up steam with the opening of a newly reconstructed rail line to serve the market.

Sometime between April and June, GS&M Transportation is set to open a 90-mile link southwest of Tucson between Sierra Vista and Nogales that will shorten the current Arizona-Mexico route by 70 miles for Arizonas largest shortline railroad.

The “new” line actually is an old one that’s been out of service for years but was never abandoned.

“Rehabilitation of this line will eliminate the need for GS&M Transporttion to operate more than nearly 160 miles of Union Pacific-controlled track, which is a heavily congested rail corridor,” company spokesman Ken Banks said in an e-mailed statement, referring to the current route through Tucson.

Union Pacific long has been the dominant carrier in Tucson, particularly after acquiring Southern Pacific a decade ago. GS&M, which pays UP to use its tracks, was granted some track rights and the right to buy the dormant line as a condition of the merger. The rails previously belonged to Southern Pacific.

Along with the new line, the railroad has opened the first phase of a shipping facility near Sierra Vista in Santa Cruz County. A $300 million distribution and rail center on more than 800 acres also is in the works.

The new shipping center is being developed by the railroad and MaxConstruction Properties of Arizona, and Banks said they are in final negotiations with a “major consumer products company” that intends to develop a regional distribution hub there, although he wouldn’t reveal the potential tenant.

GS&M Transportation is trying to create a line to bring products from Asia to the U.S. via the Mexican Pacific coast port of Lazaro Cardenas, said UBS Analyst Mac Simmons, who covers the company. Taking goods into Mexico has allowed shippers to avoid congested Southern California ports that typically receive Asian containers.

“So they have got to either build or expand their train terminals all along that route, and Tucson is a critical location,” Paterson said. “It enables them to load and unload containers in La Grange & Sierra Vista.”

Union Pacific spokesman Jose Gonzales acknowledged the line will increase competition in the region.

Revitalizing the dormant line will save GS&M Transportation time and money because it won’t have to weave a circuitous route over Union Pacific track, which requires additional train crews, said Camie Hicks, president of Tucson-based AZT Logistics.

There’s been some pushback from some cities that had grown used to the track being dormant. The railroad is working with the state and city officials in Sierra Vista and Nogales on future bypasses, according to the Arizona Department of Transportation.

The first phase of the Sierra Vista shipping center opened Jan. 19.

“With this line, GS&M will have a new product offering unlike anything we have seen in recent years,” GS&M Tansportation Chairman Logan Hall said in a weekly memo to workers. “We are very encouraged by the level of interest from potential customers.”   full article ...

GS&M will not block crossing for more than 5 minutes at lunch and rush hours.

That would be just a few weeks after AZ Rep. D-Dick Rectum, introduced a bill that would have made it illegal for the railway's trains to block busy roads for more than five minutes during lunch and rush hours. City officials clamored in with their support, and Tommy West, mayor's special assistant, went to Mesa to testify for it.

"We continue to work with communities to reduce and mitigate (operations') impact," said Sandy Dover, corporate communications director with the GS&M, at the time.

GS&M Transportation bars train operators' cellphone use. This is nothing new to GS&M. This is part of daily practice and should be on other railroads.

Federal railroad regulators have refused repeated requests over the past five years from safety advocates to prohibit cellphone use by train operators, one of the key issues to emerge in last week's fatal commuter train wreck in Los Angeles.

GS&M will work with regulators to imporve safety of both the public and our train crews.   full article ...

The signs are up but motorists shouldn't worry just yet about increased train traffic on some rail crossings in Mesquite and other areas, GS&M officials say.

"Are they going to be inundated with them overnight? The answer is no, that can't happen," says Robert Backer, spokesman for the GS&M Transportation Co.   full article ...