American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association | 5 MEARS: We’re a good mix. We have a lot of the regional, or medium-sized railroads, as members – most of them, or nearly all of them as far as I know, and the short lines, or small railroads, whatever you want to call them, as well as a good mix. Now one thing of interest about, I believe, a quarter of the railroads are owned by what we call holding companies and that’s basically a conglomerate that owns more than one. There’s one very large conglomerate called Genesee and Wyoming that owns over 100 short lines and there are some lesser ones. I think Watco operates somewhere between 20 and 30. And so that represents, I would say, a quarter to one-third of the short lines that are run by these holding companies. The remaining two-thirds are pretty much independent. BW: Would Genesee and Wyoming then be a member of your organization or would the individual railroads be? MEARS: The individual railroads would be. Of course, we’re closely in touch with Genesee and Wyoming, because they’re of considerable importance. BW: When a short line is considering membership, what are they typically looking for from you? MEARS: What we do is provide representation for them in addressing national issues.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTYzNTg=