Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad

Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad

Freshly-painted EMD SD40-2 No. 3423 in Rapid City in 2014
Reporting mark	RCPE
Locale	Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming
Dates of operation	2014 (2014)–Present
Predecessor	Canadian Pacific Railway
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Headquarters	Rapid City, South Dakota
Website	Official website

Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern Railroad (reporting mark RCPE) is a Class II 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 by Genesee & Wyoming.

The Genesee & Wyoming, a holding company of mostly short line railroads, formed the Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern to acquire the western end of the former Dakota, Minnesota and Eastern Railroad (DM&E) rail line from the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). The acquisition was completed on May 30, 2014 for $210 million. Most of its employees came over from the DM&E.

The Rapid City, Pierre and Eastern owns 670 miles (1,078 km) of track. The main line runs between Tracy, Minnesota and Rapid City, South Dakota with branches north to Colony, Wyoming and south to Dakota Junction, Nebraska. There are three short branches as well:

The RCPE also has trackage rights over the BNSF Railway between Yale and Watertown, South Dakota and Wolsey, South Dakota and Aberdeen, South Dakota.

Customers on the line ship approximately 64,000 carloads annually of grain, bentonite clay, ethanol, fertilizer and other products.