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Cathcart Rail
Casey Cathcart founded Cathcart Rail in 2016 to consolidate freight rail services, acquiring over 20 businesses in repair, switching, and transloading.
Cathcart Rail
Casey Cathcart founded Cathcart Rail in 2016, after a career at GE Transportation, to consolidate the highly fragmented rail services sector. Rather than starting from scratch, the firm began acquiring established businesses in railcar repair, switching, and transloading — the physical nodes where freight shifts between railcars, trucks, and ships. Cathcart deploys capital across three interconnected asset classes: railcar repair facilities, short-line railroad operations, and transload terminals. The firm has completed more than 20 add-on acquisitions and operates a network of maintenance shops, rail yards, and logistics points concentrated in the US Midwest and Southeast. Its platform extends into direct industrial services, including tank car cleaning, valve repair, and mobile repair teams that service customers on-site — an operating model that combines real estate, specialized labor, and industrial equipment under one ownership structure. The firm is privately held and does not publicly disclose assets under management. Cathcart operates from its headquarters in Bucyrus, Ohio, the historic heart of US railroading. Its operational footprint spans multiple states, with a significant concentration along key Class I rail corridors. In 2021, the firm acquired the rail assets of Kinder Morgan — a transaction that added several major terminal facilities along the Gulf Coast and expanded its bulk transload capabilities (per Progressive Railroading, 2021). Cathcart Rail is structurally distinct from typical infrastructure funds in that it owns and operates the underlying industrial businesses directly, rather than passively holding concessions. This positions the firm not just as a financial owner but as an integrated operating company managing skilled mechanical labor, environmental compliance, and physical plant — a structure that creates barriers to entry through geographic density and regulatory licensing.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2016
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Bucyrus
Corporate office
Bucyrus, OH, United States
Principals
Casey Cathcart
Chief Executive Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What does Cathcart Rail own and operate?
Cathcart Rail owns and operates railcar repair shops, short-line railroads, and transload terminals across the United States. The firm also provides mobile repair services, tank car cleaning, and valve repair through its integrated operating companies. Its network spans the Midwest, Southeast, and Gulf Coast, with a concentration along major Class I rail corridors.
Who runs Cathcart Rail?
Casey Cathcart is the founder and CEO, having previously worked at GE Transportation — the locomotive and rail technology division of General Electric. He built the firm through a series of acquisitions beginning in 2016, targeting independently owned rail service businesses that lacked succession plans or needed operational capital to scale.
How does Cathcart Rail source acquisition targets?
The firm sources targets primarily through industry relationships and network referrals within the North American rail sector. Many acquired businesses are family-owned repair shops or regional switching operators where the founder sought an exit. Cathcart's reputation as an operator willing to retain existing management and invest in facilities gives it proprietary deal flow in a sector with few institutional consolidators.
Is Cathcart Rail a private equity fund or an operating company?
Cathcart Rail is structured as an operating holding company, not a traditional blind-pool fund. It raises capital from institutional infrastructure investors on a deal-by-deal or platform basis and integrates acquisitions into its existing operational network. This hybrid structure combines elements of permanent capital with active industrial management.
Why is railcar repair and transloading attractive infrastructure?
These assets sit at mandatory interchange points in the North American supply chain — every railcar requires federally mandated periodic inspection and repair, and bulk commodities must transfer between modes at transload terminals. The barriers to entry include environmental permits, skilled labor scarcity, and physical proximity to Class I mainlines, all of which favor a dense, scaled network.
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