Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad

Freshly-paintedEMD SD40-2No. 3423 in Rapid City in 2014
Overview
Headquarters	Rapid City, South Dakota
Reporting mark	RCPE
Locale	Minnesota,Nebraska,South Dakota andWyoming
Dates of operation	2014 (2014)–Present
Predecessor	Canadian Pacific Railway
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Length	743 miles
Other
Website	Official website

Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern Railroad (reporting markRCPE) is a Class II freight railroad operating across South Dakota and southern Minnesota in the northern plains of the United States. Portions of the railroad also extend into Wyoming and Nebraska. It is owned and operated byGenesee & Wyoming. The primary commodities shipped are grain, clay, and cement.^[1] Operations began on June 1, 2014.^[2]

Genesee & Wyoming, a holding company of mostlyshortline railroads, formed the Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern to acquire the western end of the formerDakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DM&E) rail line from theCanadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The RCPE and DM&E entered an agreement on January 2, 2014, wherein RCPE would acquire 670 miles of track and 219 miles oftrackage rights from the DM&E.^[3] The acquisition was completed on May 30, 2014, for $210 million. Most of its employees came over from the DM&E.^[4] Operations began on June 1, 2014.

The State of South Dakota partnered with the RCPE to enhance rail service and keep agricultural commodities moving to market.^[5] In 2021, the RCPE received state and federal funding totalling US$42 million to upgrade 163 miles of rail between Fort Pierre and Rapid City.^[6] This project updated that portion of the line with 136 pound continuous welded rail.^[7] This increased the weight capacity of rail cars from 263,000-pound to 286,000-pound and the speed limit from 10 mph to a minimum of 25 mph.^[7]

The Rapid City, Pierre & Eastern owns 743 miles (1,196 km) of track. The main line runs betweenTracy, Minnesota, andRapid City, South Dakota, with branches north to Colony, inCrook County, Wyoming, and south to Dakota Junction, Nebraska.^[8] Much of the main line from Tracy to Rapid City is paralleled byU.S. Route 14. The route travels the length of the state from the eastern border with Minnesota, to the western border with Wyoming, crossing the Missouri river at Pierre.^[9]

• Huron Subdivision – Tracy, Minnesota to Huron, South Dakota - 136 miles
• Pierre Subdivision – Huron to Pierre - 118 miles
• PRC Subdivision – Pierre to Rapid City - 170 miles
• Black Hills Subdivision – Colony, Wyoming to Crawford/Dakota Junction, Nebraska - 174 miles

There are three short branches as well:

• Blunt, South Dakota–Onida, South Dakota^[9]
• Huron, South Dakota–Yale, South Dakota (Owned by the State of South Dakota and operated by the RCPE, meets theBNSF Railway at Yale from Watertown)^[9]
• Redfield, South Dakota–Mansfield, South Dakota (Accessed via trackage rights on the BNSF Mitchell - Wolsey - Aberdeen line)^[9]

There are interchanges with the BNSF Railway at Wolsey, South Dakota, Crawford, Nebraska, and Florence, Minnesota. The interchange with the Canadian Pacific is at Tracy, Minnesota.The RCPE has trackage rights from Tracy to Mankato, Minnesota on the CPR, where there is an interchange with theUnion Pacific Railroad.^[3] The RCPE also has trackage rights over the BNSF between Yale, SD toWatertown, South Dakota, andWolsey, South Dakota toAberdeen, South Dakota.^[3][4]

As of 2023^[update], weight capacity betweenFort Pierre, South Dakota andTracy, Minnesota is 286,000 gross pounds per axle, while the weight capacity betweenOnida, South Dakota andBlunt, South Dakota is 263,000 gross pounds per axle.^[10]

The vast majority of the fleet consisted ofEMD SD40-2s.

• Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad

Wikimedia Commons has media related toRapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad.

• Official site
• Diesel roster

• 2014 establishments in South Dakota
• Minnesota railroads
• Nebraska railroads
• South Dakota railroads
• Wyoming railroads
• Railway companies established in 2014
• Genesee & Wyoming

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia
• Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2023
• All articles containing potentially dated statements
• Commons category link is on Wikidata