CLR Announces Intention to Form the New Orleans Terminal Railroad to Create a Neutral Rail Gateway in New Orleans

County Line Railroad Interests, LLC files with the Surface Transportation Board to establish a terminal railroad that would acquire and dispatch the New Orleans Back Belt, offering all six Class I railroads and Amtrak equal access on published, uniform terms. Bryan Boaz to serve as President.

HOUSTON, Texas, September 4, 2026. County Line Railroad Interests, LLC (CLR), a privately held rail infrastructure developer and operator, today submitted a filing with the Surface Transportation Board (STB) notifying it of CLR’s intention to form the New Orleans Terminal Railroad Company (NOTR), a wholly owned terminal railroad that would, if approval from the Board is granted, operate the New Orleans rail gateway as a neutral, open-access facility available to every Class I railroad and to Amtrak on equal, publicly published terms. Bryan Boaz, CLR’s Chief Commercial Officer, will serve as President of NOTR.

CLR’s filing today is a Description of Anticipated Responsive Application submitted in accordance with the procedural schedule established by the STB on August 18, 2026 in Docket No. FD 36873, the proceeding concerning Union Pacific’s proposed control of Norfolk Southern. In accordance with STB rules, the filing submits a description of the transaction that will be set out in much greater detail in a responsive application to be submitted on November 18, 2026 pursuant to the current schedule.

A single gateway, six railroads

New Orleans is the only deep-water port in the United States served by all six Class I railroads, and all six, together with Amtrak, own track and operate through the terminal area. Yet control of the two decisive pathways across the gateway is divided between two carriers. Norfolk Southern dispatches the New Orleans Terminal Back Belt Line, and Union Pacific dispatches the Mississippi River crossing at the Huey P. Long Bridge, the only rail river crossing for roughly 130 miles downstream of Baton Rouge. Canadian National and CPKC hold no present rights to move their trains across the Back Belt or the Huey P. Long Bridge.

In its filing, CLR states that combining Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern without conditions would place ownership and dispatch control of substantially all cross-terminal freight movements, and of as many as 48 Amtrak trains per week, in the hands of a single carrier that also competes for the traffic moving over those tracks. CLR’s position is that a durable structural remedy, rather than a temporary pricing condition, is the appropriate answer.

What NOTR proposes

The responsive application will seek Board authority for NOTR to:

• Acquire the New Orleans Terminal Back Belt Line from Norfolk Southern, approximately 7.7 miles extending from Oliver Junction to East City Junction and from East City Junction to the CN/IC Connection, on compensation terms agreed by the parties or set by the Board, with NOTR assuming full responsibility for maintaining and upgrading the line.

• Dispatch freight and passenger trains over the Back Belt and related terminal trackage, including the tracks between West Bridge Junction and East Bridge Junction and between East Bridge Junction and the CN/IC Connection, the Huey P. Long Bridge crossing, and approximately 3.5 miles between Control Point Seabrook and Oliver Junction, roughly 13.6 route miles of dispatching authority in total.

• Align the CN interlockers at East Bridge Junction Tower, removing a long-standing operating constraint on cross-terminal interchange.

  
  

NOTR would dispatch Amtrak trains consistent with STB decisions, Federal Railroad Administration regulations, and applicable agreements.

Neutrality by structure, not by promise

NOTR would be designed so that it has no incentive to prefer one railroad’s trains over another’s. Under the structure described in the filing:

• No Class I railroad would hold an ownership interest in NOTR, at formation or at any time thereafter.

• NOTR would publish a single tariff, with prices and terms applicable on the same basis to every Class I carrier and to Amtrak.

• NOTR would not participate in any line-haul movement, and therefore would not change the rates, routes, or terms that any Class I railroad offers its own customers.

• NOTR would not seek to disturb the existing rights of carriers to serve shippers already located on the affected lines.

“New Orleans works when every railroad can get across it. Right now, whose train moves next is decided by a carrier that has its own freight in the queue, and after this merger, one carrier would make that call for four competitors and for Amtrak. A neutral terminal railroad fixes that at the structural level: same tariff, same rules, same dispatcher for everybody, with no Class I on our cap table,” said Bryan Boaz, who will be President of the New Orleans Terminal Railroad Company.

Boaz has spent his career in freight rail, largely on the Gulf Coast. Before joining CLR, he led ExxonMobil’s Gulf Coast Rail Operations, with oversight of more than 100 agreements for railcar switching, storage, and transloading across North America. He was appointed in 2023 to the STB’s Rail Energy Transportation Advisory Committee (RETAC) and previously chaired the American Petroleum Institute’s Rail Subcommittee for more than a decade. At CLR, his work has centered on terminal operations, railroad pricing, and industrial rail development.

NOTR would be staffed by experienced operating and dispatching personnel with direct experience in freight and passenger railroad operations, including in the New Orleans terminal area. NOTR would have its own financial resources as well as access to additional capital through its affiliation with CLR.

“We are not looking to take anyone’s traffic or reprice anyone’s move,” Boaz said. “We are looking to make the gateway fluid and to keep it that way.”

The filing states that the proposed transaction qualifies as a minor transaction under the Board’s regulations at 49 C.F.R. § 1180.2, and that any competitive concerns would be clearly outweighed by the transaction’s contribution to the public interest. CLR is represented in the proceeding by the Law Office of Thomas W. Wilcox, LLC, of Washington, D.C.

About the New Orleans Terminal Railroad Company

The New Orleans Terminal Railroad Company (NOTR) is a proposed wholly owned terminal railroad subsidiary of County Line Rail, to be formed to acquire, maintain, and dispatch terminal trackage in the New Orleans gateway and to provide neutral, equal access to all connecting railroads and to Amtrak under uniform published tariff terms. NOTR’s formation, proposed acquisition, and dispatching authority are subject to approval by the Surface Transportation Board.

About County Line Rail (CLR)

County Line Rail (CLR) is a privately held rail infrastructure developer and operator headquartered in Houston, Texas. CLR manages a national platform of rail-served industrial facilities, including rail terminals and shortlines, and maintains relationships with all six Class I railroads. Privately funded, CLR approaches its investments with a long-term growth strategy and takes a customer service-first approach with shippers and Class I railroad partners alike. More information is available at clrail.com.