Wisconsin Central Ltd. - Timeline

Timeline

• April 3, 1987: The Soo Line Railroad announces the sale of its Lake States Transportation Division to private investors, forming the new Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation.
• October 11, 1987: The first WC train runs, from Stevens Point to North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
• May 1991: WC shares begin trading under the ticker symbol WCTC, raising $36.2 million.
• 1992: Railway Age Magazine names WC "Regional Railroad of the Year".
• 1993: WC acquires the Fox River Valley Railroad and Green Bay and Western railroads through a new subsidiary, Fox Valley & Western Ltd.
• 1993: A WC-led consortium acquires New Zealand Rail Ltd through a new subsidiary, Wisconsin Central International, and renames it Tranz Rail in 1995.
• 1995: WC acquires the Algoma Central Railway through a new subsidiary, Wisconsin Central Canada Holdings.
• 1995: A WC-led consortium acquires Rail Express Systems Ltd in the United Kingdom.
• 1996: WC partners with Canadian National Railway (CN) and CSX, inaugurating a new intermodal shipping corridor between the west and east coasts of North America.
• 1996: Three trainload rail freight operators in the UK are united into a new WC subsidiary, English Welsh and Scottish Railway Holdings Ltd (EWS).
• March 4, 1996: A Wisconsin Central freight train derails in Weyauwega, Wisconsin; the derailment results in a 16 day evacuation.
• 1997: EWS acquires two more freight railways in the UK.
• 1997: Another WC subsidiary, the Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Company, acquires 207 miles (333 km) of track from Union Pacific Railroad forming a WC connection between Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Ishpeming, Michigan.
• 1997: A new WC subsidiary, Australian Transport Network (ATN), acquires a one-third ownership and an operating interest TasRail (1978–2004) in Tasmania.
• 1997: Six months later, ATN acquires the Emu Bay Railway in Tasmania.
• 1999: Railroad industry trade journal Railway Age magazine names WC president Edward A. Burkhardt its Railroader of the Year.
• January 30, 2001: WC and CN announce plans for CN to purchase WC for $800 million and the assumption of $400 million of WC's debt.
• September 7, 2001: The Surface Transportation Board approves the sale of WC to CN.
• October 9, 2001: WC is acquired by CN.
• December 21, 2011: Duluth, Winnipeg and Pacific Railway and Duluth, Missabe and Iron Range Railway, also owned by CN, are merged into Wisconsin Central.
• January 1, 2013: Elgin, Joliet and Eastern Railway is merged into Wisconsin Central Ltd indirectly as parent company CN made the acquisition.