DENVER – OmniTRAX, one of the largest privately held transportation service companies in North America and an affiliate of The Broe Group, held its annual National Leadership Meeting (NLM) February 7-9 to review 2016 performance and plan for 2017 growth. With the theme “Racing Toward Excellence,” the NLM also featured the presentation of several awards to both individual team members and to rail lines operated by OmniTRAX.

“Our National Leadership Meeting is an occasion to celebrate our successes, address any challenges, coordinate our strategies for the year ahead and honor the best performers at OmniTRAX. We had several individuals and rail lines that had excellent results and showed the highest levels of safety, and we are proud of all of them,” said Kevin Shuba, CEO of OmniTRAX.

The Jake Awards, which are given by the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, honor all operations that had zero reportable injuries. The OmniTRAX rail lines receiving the Jake Award for 2016 include Central Texas & Colorado River Railway, Great Western Railway of Colorado, Georgia Woodlands Railroad, Kettle Falls International Railway, Nebraska, Kansas & Colorado Railway, Newburgh & South Shore Railroad, Northern Ohio & Western Railway and Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad. OmniSAFE awards, which go to all operations that had zero injuries, were presented to Central Texas & Colorado River Railway, Great Western Railway of Colorado, Georgia Woodlands Railroad, Nebraska, Kansas & Colorado Railway, Newburgh & South Shore Railroad, Northern Ohio & Western Railway and Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad.

The OmniTRAX Award of Excellence went to Scott Cloud of the Georgia and Florida Railway for his efforts on getting the line back to operating condition following a hurricane that damaged miles of track and several crossings. The OmniTRAX Culture of Safety Award was given to Fernando Gonzalez of the Brownsville & Rio Grande International Railway for his performance in successfully implementing the OmniTRAX Safety Policies and Procedures program Culture of Safety. Also recognized as OmniTRAX Safety People of the Year were Dan Ebelt and Steve Pintler of the corporate safety department, Justin McCullough of the Hudson Bay Railway, Bryce Anderson of Nebraska Kansas Colorado Railway and Tim Schumm of Newburgh & South Shore Railroad and Northern Ohio & Western Railway.

The OmniTRAX Railroad of the Year, which is awarded annually to the railroad that recorded the most outstanding performance based on marked improvement in the culture of safety while demonstrating significant pride in ownership through efficiencies in capital expenditures resource utilization and achieving significant growth, went to Illinois Railway. The OmniTRAX Best Metrics awards, which are presented to the top three operations based on 24-hour report switch and on-time performance trains and M-CREW automation, went to Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad, Newburgh & South Shore Railroad and Brownsville & Rio Grande international Railway.