Austin Western Railroad Team Plows Through Challenges

Even in the best circumstances, it’s a challenge for short lines to keep freight moving efficiently and safely. But the past 18 months have been anything but the best circumstances for the Austin Western Railroad (AWRR). Mandated federal testing, the pandemic, and new leadership are all factors in adjustments the team has had to account for. In spite the challenges the team faced, the AWRR continued to collaborate with our customers to increase car traffic and improve service.

The AWRR shares a 32mile stretch of track with MetroRail’s commuter Red Line in Austin, Texas. Since this is a passenger line, MetroRail’s owner Capital Metro needed to install and test Positive Train Control (PTC) on the AWRR track between downtown Austin and northwest to Leander by the federallymandated December 31, 2021 deadline.

PTC is a technology designed to prevent train collisions and protect on-track workers. Prior to implementation, testing needed to happen. For months, field testing occurred nightly from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. The AWRR runs most of its traffic during these hours and adapted its operations around this schedule.

"We worked around each other,” says AWRR General Manager Anthony Hoyte. “One night they would test on the east side, the next night on the west side. Most trains come from the west sub. So, if they were doing testing on the east side of the central corridor, we’d come from the west and make interchanges. The only time it really affected us was when they were doing testing on the west.”

The pandemic brought its own with our customers and with challenges of keeping team members healthy and safely moving freight. However, with more people in the Austin area working from home, Cap Metro ridership plummeted, and the agency reduced its service schedule. That March, it scaled back the Red Line timetable to Monday through Friday with no late-night service.

“Without commuters running as much, it gave us more time to run than expected,” said Hoyte. “With no one getting on commuter trains, it gave us a better operating window. We also started consolidating trains; instead of a 95-car train, we ran a 200-car train.”

Just as PTC testing and COVID were creating challenges, Hoyte was thrown into the mix as the new general manager. Hoyte took over the reins at the AWRR in February 2020. Often, there’s an adjustment period as new leaders implement changes based on their personal leadership style, but Hoyte and the management team at the AWRR worked together to make the transition a positive experience.

"Communications with the team have been really great and they’ve been responsive to our needs,” said Derek Schluterman, General Manager of Aggregates, Texas Materials. “They’re willing to listen to us and try new ideas. Things have been going really good.”

Three new offices were added to major points on the line, allowing managers to work alongside the crews to create a more cohesive workplace, and enabling better communication. A new locomotive shop was built to more efficiently keep the locomotives running and serving customers, new equipment was purchased, and they are working on a growth project for additional track space.

“We’ve had some great growth at the same time that we’ve had a lot of challenges,” notes Carla Ewing, Watco’s Vice President of Sales for the AWRR. “The operations and sales teams have done a fantastic job working with our customers and with Cap Metro to create positive efficiencies across the line. That’s allowed us to find capacity on a very constrained railroad.”

The team’s efforts, combined with continually developing relationships with our customers, resulted in a 5.4% increase in 2020 carloads over 2019. This continued the AWRR’s trend over the last six years with traffic being up 38% during that period. The team’s perseverance, combined with the developments listed below are some reasons for their success.

• In 2018, the largest customer on the line, Texas Materials, partnered with the AWRR and Cap Metro to rehab 25-miles of previously out-of-service track.

• Hanson Aggregates invested $30 million to redo their aggregate quarry near Burnet, Texas, doubling their volumes each year over the last two years.

• McCoy Building Supply purchased a small lumber transload site on the Austin Western that they use for distribution throughout central Texas, growing from 100 cars per year to 1,000 cars per year.