American Services Rail has replaced Rock Island Rail as the operator of the Mississippi Delta Railroad, according to the Federal Register.

ASR announced that it and the line’s owner, Coahoma County, Miss., have entered a lease under which ASR will operate the 51-mile former Illinois Central line as a common carrier. According to ASR, it will take over from Rock Island Rail, which has managed the line since early 2019 and completed significant infrastructure work. In recent years, the primary business has been car storage. The line stretches between Jonestown, Miss., and a connection with CN at Swan Lake.

By early April, many of the stored cars had departed, leaving a wide-open yard in Clarksdale, Miss. Rock Island Rail, based in Sumner, Miss., will move its locomotives – several painted to honor the original Rock Island – to its other operations, which include Gulf & Ship Island and Ottawa Northern. Headquartered in Southaven, Miss., ASR has focused on track construction, maintenance, and derailment services. —M.T. Burkhart