Wisconsin Central Ltd.

Wisconsin Central Ltd. is a railroad subsidiary of Canadian National. At one time, its parent Wisconsin Central Transportation Corporation owned or operated railroads in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia.

Overview

Wisconsin Central Ltd. started in US in the mid-1980s using most of the original Wisconsin Central Railway's rights of way and some former Milwaukee Road rights of way after the Soo Line Railroad acquired the Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Minnesota holdings of the bankrupt Milwaukee Road and divested its older railway trackage in Wisconsin. In 1993 the Wisconsin Central also acquired the Green Bay and Western Railroad and the Fox River Valley Railroad.
In 1995, Wisconsin Central acquired the Canadian Algoma Central Railway whose tracks ran north of Sault Saint Marie to Hearst, Ontario. The Algoma Central runs a popular tourist passenger train through the Agawa Canyon and Agawa Canyon Wilderness Park near Lake Superior Provincial Park.
In 1996, Chicago commuter rail agency Metra inaugurated service on the WC's Waukesha Subdivision as the North Central Service.
In 2001, the Wisconsin Central was purchased by Canadian National. Along with the former Illinois Central Railroad, the former Wisconsin Central became part of Canadian National's United States holdings and its property integrated into the CN system.
At the time of its sale to Canadian National, Wisconsin Central operated over of track in the Great Lakes region. The railroad extended from Chicago into and through Wisconsin to Minneapolis-Saint Paul and Duluth, Minnesota, to Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, and north to Hearst, Ontario.
In November 2020, as part of celebrations for the 25th anniversary of CN's privatization, the company unveiled a series of locomotives repainted in the schemes of its predecessor and/or subsidiary railroads. GE ET44AC No. 3069 was repainted in the burgundy and yellow livery of Wisconsin Central, along with the logos of that company.

Timeline

January 10, 1986: The Soo Line, nine days after purchasing the Milwaukee Road, creates the Lake States Transportation Division to operate its mainline between Forest Park, Illinois and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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 names Wisconsin Central the Regional Railroad of the Year
1993: WC acquires the Fox River Valley Railroad and Green Bay & Western railroads
1993: A Wisconsin Central-led consortium acquires New Zealand Rail 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 in the United Kingdom from the British Railways Board
1996: WC partners with Canadian National and CSX, inaugurating a new intermodal shipping corridor between the west and east coasts of North America
1996: The Loadhaul, Mainline Freight and Transrail Freight freight operators in the UK are purchased from the British Railways Board and merged as English Welsh & Scottish
March 4, 1996: A Wisconsin Central freight train derails in Weyauwega, Wisconsin; the derailment results in a 16-day evacuation
August 19, 1996: Metra, a commuter railroad agency based in Chicago, inaugurates its North Central Service route on the WC's Waukesha Subdivision.
1997: EWS acquires Railfreight Distribution in the UK from the British Railways Board and merges it into EWS
1997: Another WC subsidiary, the Sault Ste. Marie Bridge Company, acquires of track from Union Pacific Railroad forming a WC connection between Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Ishpeming, Michigan
1997: Australian Transport Network, in which Wisconsin Central owned a one-third stake, purchased Tasrail in Tasmania, six months later ATN acquired the Emu Bay Railway in Tasmania
1999: Railway Age names Wisconsin Central president Edward Burkhardt its Railroader of the Year
January 30, 2001: Wisconsin Central and Canadian National announce plans for CN to purchase the former for $800 million and the assumption of $400 million of WC's debt, it is completed on October 9, 2001
June 28, 2007: Deutsche Bahn announced it had agreed with CN/WC to purchase EWS, subject to receiving regulatory approval, in exchange for £309 million. At the time of the acquisition, EWS had a market share of around 70% in the United Kingdom rail freight sector and had around 5,000 employees. After the transaction was approved by the European Commissioner for Competition, the transaction was completed on 13 November 2007.
December 21, 2011: Duluth, Winnipeg & Pacific Railway and Duluth, Missabe & 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