D&I Railroad

The D&I Railroad (DAIR) (also nicknamed the Dakota and Iowa Railroad)[1] is a wholly owned subsidiary of L.G. Everist Inc. The line hauls ethanol, sand, gravel, and Sioux Quartzite, which is mined from two large quarries in Dell Rapids.

D&I Railroad
Overview
HeadquartersDell Rapids, South Dakota
Reporting markDAIR
LocaleSouth Dakota, Iowa
Dates of operation1985–present
PredecessorChicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, Chicago and North Western Transportation Company
Technical
Track gauge4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

The D&I has a trackage agreement with BNSF to allow it to travel to deliver and sell products, as they must use BNSF’s system to reach their southern half of their trackage. The D&I operates on both former Chicago, Milwakuee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad and Chicago and Northwestern Railroad trackage, which were handed over to the state of South Dakota in 1980-1981 after the Milwaukee Road’s bankruptcy and subsequent abandonment of unprofitable lines.[2][3][4][5][6]

Name

The D&I is sometimes also referred to as the Dakota and Iowa Railroad or the Dale and Irene Railroad. However, the name is only the D&I Railroad, with the Dakota and Iowa or Dale and Irene being only nicknames.[1]

Trackage

The D&I operates corporate owned trackage from Dell Rapids to Sioux Falls, where it connects with the BNSF. It also operates trackage owned by the State of South Dakota in which it hauls products down to Sioux City to be loaded on barges and then sent through the Missouri River, into the Mississippi River, and out to sea.[2][4][3] The tracks are reached by the D&I using the BNSF’s system to reach the beginning of the state owned line it operates, which begins at Canton, South Dakota.

The D&I also operates a former Chicago and Northwestern branch line from Hawarden, Iowa to Beresford, South Dakota, which is owned by the State of South Dakota.[2]

References
  1. "and then there's the more obscure flare". Trainorders.com Discussion. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  2. H. Roger Grant; Donovan L. Hofsommer (May 2009). Iowa's railroads: an album. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-31425-3.
  3. I-29 Improvements in Sioux City, Woodbury County: Environmental Impact Statement. 2009. pp. 3–.
  4. Addressing Surface Transportation Needs in Rural America: Field Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, First Session, August 10, 2009. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1 January 2010.
  5. Edward A. Lewis (1996). American Shortline Railway Guide. Kalmbach Publishing, Co. pp. 116–. ISBN 978-0-89024-290-2.
  6. Transportation Practitioners Journal. Association of Transportation Practitioners. 1990.


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