Carload Express, Inc. operates three shortline railroads: The Allegheny Valley Railroad (AVR) and Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad (SWP) serving western Pennsylvania, and Delmarva Central Railroad (DCR) serving Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula. Our dedicated, locally based management is able to offer timely and flexible service demanded by today’s fast paced supply chains while offering the inherent economies of scale that rail shipping provides. Our multiple connections to the North American rail system allow our customers to enjoy competitive freight routing options, lowering their overall shipping costs.
Carload Express, Inc. plays an important role in the communities we serve by transporting many of the basic goods used in everyday life such as the paper you read, the food you eat, the bricks, steel, and lumber to build your home, and the coal that supplies the power to light it. The nearly 90,000 shipments we handle annually equate to roughly 360,000 fewer trucks on local highways each year, lowering congestion and road maintenance costs.
Carload Express Quick Facts
- Headquarters: Oakmont, PA
- Railroads Operated:
- Allegheny Valley Railroad (AVR)
- Delmarva Central Railroad (DCR)
- Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad (SWP)
- 331 Total Route Miles
- Locomotives: 55
- First year of operation: 1992
- Company History
Our Mission
With a true commitment that safety is our first priority, we will provide timely and professional service to our customers, treat everyone with fairness, honesty, and respect, and profit through innovation and dedication.
Our Services
- Dependable and Efficient Rail Service connecting with multiple long-haul carriers
- Rail Pricing and Logistics Planning – Need to figure out how much it will cost to transport your product cross country and then warehouse your inventory close to the final destination? Let us do the legwork for you!
- Warehousing – Our warehouse network has the right facility at the right location to fit your needs for almost any possible commodity.
- Transloading – Combine the power of rail economics with the flexibility of truck delivery.
- Rail Car Storage
- Dedicated Industrial Switching
- Customer Sidetrack Engineering – Our experienced engineering staff will assist with designing sidetrack access to your facility and may be able to locate grant opportunities to help fund your track construction.
Carload Express Awards:
- 2020 Business Development Award from the American Shortline & Regional Rail Association (Delmarva Central Railroad)
- 2020 Railway Age Short Line & Regional Railroad of the Year – Honorable Mention (Delmarva Central Railroad)
- 2019 recipient of Jake Award for Safety (With Distinction) from the American Shortline & Regional Rail Association (Allegheny Valley Railroad, Delmarva Central Railroad, Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, Ohio Terminal Railway)
- 2018 recipient of Jake Award for Safety (With Distinction) from the American Shortline & Regional Rail Association (Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad, Ohio Terminal Railway)
- 2016 recipient of Jake Award for Safety from the American Shortline & Regional Rail Association (Allegheny Valley Railroad)
- 2016 recipient of General Electric Transportation’s “Fast Track” Award for achieved measurable success through the use of GE Transportation’s software and solutions
- 2015 recipient of Norfolk Southern’s Northern Region General Managers’ Award
- 2012 and previous winner (2008 and 2011) of the American Shortline and Regional Railroad Association Jake Jacobson Safety Award (with Distinction).
- Recognized as by Norfolk Southern Corp, as “Shortline Railroad of the Year” for 2013.
- Multiple time award-winner of Norfolk Southern Marketing and Business Development Awards, receiving four such awards in 2015, and four more in 2016.
- 2010 Recipient of CSX Transportation Regional Development Partnershipping Award.
