Herzog Timeline

William “Bill” Herzog founded Herzog Contracting Corp., an asphalt paving company in St. Joseph, Missouri. Herzog’s reputation for safety and quality quickly spread in Northwest Missouri and were frequently subcontracted on large asphalt paving projects in the area.

To accommodate the rapidly growing business, a mobile asphalt plant is purchased for a staging site in Elwood, KS. This site eventually becomes permanent location for regional asphalt operations and an American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)-accredited lab is installed on-site.

To offset overhead during the winter months, Herzog expands its services into the railroad construction and rehabilitation business. Railroad work eventually becomes the driving force behind Herzog’s future growth and sustainability.

Herzog wins its first substantial railroad job outside of Missouri to build a 15-mile welded railroad spur into a power plant in San Miguel, TX, a small town south of San Antonio.

Herzog develops the CarTopper® Material Handling Services machine, one of its first equipment patents designed to be more economical, efficient, and safer method of unloading rail construction materials from railroad cars.

Herzog’s first significant involvement with grading, electrical, sewer, utility, drainage, structures, and concrete paving work begins with a series of seven Interstate 229 projects near downtown St. Joseph, Missouri.

Herzog serves as the prime contractor to build a trolley line from downtown San Diego to San Ysidro for the Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB). This project set the stage for Herzog’s entrance into national transit work.

Herzog tackles its first large-scale asphalt project as a prime contractor on a substantial section of Interstate 20 in Marshall, Texas. This project led to securing additional Texas asphalt contracts, significantly expanding Herzog’s operations across the entire state.

Herzog’s waste management division wins a major contract with the County of San Diego to operate their six landfills. Herzog’s expansion into environmental services later wins them additional work for landfills in Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico and the U.S. Territory of Guam.

The Kansas City Southern (KCS) railroad sought a way to easily obtain ballast near their railroad line and enlisted Herzog to develop a rock quarry in Hatton, AR. Herzog built a rail spur from the quarry to the KCS railroad to expedite transport. Sold in 1995, the 1,000+ acre quarry was producing ~2.2 million tons of rock per year.

Herzog completes the build of its new corporate headquarters in St. Joseph, Missouri. The pace of hiring required Herzog to construct a second office on site in 2010 and purchase an adjacent property in 2015 to accommodate its growing employee base.

Herzog first dips its toes in the world of racing. The Motorsports division has sponsored legendary drivers such as Jimmie Johnson and brothers Tony and Cruz Pedregon over the years.

The Burlington Northern Railroad tasked Herzog to find a safer, cost-efficient method to clip rail to concrete ties. Herzog developed the Clip Car to install Safelok clips and insulations on concrete ties.

Herzog begins its railcar leasing program to contractors and Class 1 railroads, offering a diversified fleet of rail cars including gondolas, rapid discharge open-top hoppers, automated ballast cars, and side dumps. To support the service and repair of equipment, a new railcar repair shop is built the same year in St. Joseph, MO.

Herzog acquires SS Tech Co. to form Herzog Services, Inc. Ultrasonic rail testing begins with three hi-rail equipped test vehicles on the Burlington Northern line in Wyoming. Today, Herzog has approximately 85 test truck models operating for more than 30 clients.

The Automated Ballast Train was the first in a series of ballast dumping technologies. This solar-powered, remote-control dump train replaced dangerous and time-consuming manual unloading. Ballast cars with 100-ton capacities quickly became available for use on many Class 1 railroads.

Herzog acquires ownership of UTDC Transit Services, Inc. which operated Tri-Rail service between Miami and West Palm Beach, FL. Herzog incorporated the company as Herzog Transit Services (HTSI). HTSI is now the largest private passenger rail operations and maintenance provider for 13 transit agencies across North America.

Herzog purchases a railcar shop in Falls City, NE to support the repairs of its growing fleet and customer equipment. Served by the Burlington Northern and Union Pacific railroads, the 46,800-square foot repair facility is AAR-certified, fits 12 cars under roof in the mechanical areas, includes a washbay, and provides blast and paint services.

Herzog pioneered the development of the FDX4 ultrasonic rail flaw detection system which has become the basis for today’s rail scanning technology. This system enables a technician to better assess rail integrity by viewing more comprehensive on-screen data that previous technology filtered out.

The Multi-Purpose Machine® (MPM) is developed and contracted to the BNSF. The self-propelled, on-track unit handles labor-intensive tasks such as ditching, picking up, stacking or distributing ties, tie butts, rail, and maintenance.

Herzog’s next-generation GPS-enabled ballast dumping car is released. Named the Programmable Linear Unloading System (PLUS) Train, the equipment further increased cycle times, reduced the required work window, eliminated ground forces, and reduced fuel usage.

Herzog begins construction activities in the Turks & Caicos Islands. Over the next decade, Herzog was involved in major infrastructure projects throughout the Caribbean, including the construction of asphalt and concrete roadways, airport runways, drainage systems, utilities, and internationally-certified 400M running tracks.

Herzog designed and built the Rail Unloading Machine (RUM). The self-contained unit travels highways and rails under its own power, mounts easily onto existing rails, and goes to work unloading rail from a CWR train. Within an hour, the RUM can unload 10-12 rails eliminating the need for extensive manpower and greatly reduces the risk of injury.

TransitAmerica Services Inc. (TASI), a wholly owned subsidiary of HTSI was formed as a response to agencies that required workers and operators to be covered under the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act.

Herzog builds a new railcar repair facility In St. Joseph, MO boasting a 54,000-square-foot shop area, a self-contained car interior cleaning bay, research and development lab, and GPS software testing area. Touted as one of the best in the country, this location is AAR-certified and served by the BNSF.

Herzog’s third-generation ballast train, the SMART Train, is equipped with the same capabilities of the PLUS Train but features high-tech flow sensors and ballast doors that open to both the center and shoulder of the track. It can dump 30 cars per mile on existing or newly skeletonized concrete tie track.

To streamline the business development and management of several growing Caribbean and international projects, Herzog International was incorporated.

In partnership with Phillips & Jordan, Herzog formed Green Group Holdings, LLC, an environmental services company. Herzog’s waste management division transferred its landfill assets to the subsidiary to manage the planning, implementation and operation of waste disposal, recycling, reuse, and restoration projects.

Herzog acquires Hax Technologies, expanding its capabilities for wayside signaling and communications. Today Herzog Technologies, Inc. (HTI), is a leading provider of PTC system integration and hosting, software development, data collection, and management.

Herzog’s development of the Automated Tie Down Car significantly reduced safety hazards and decreased labor costs associated with the time-consuming loading and unloading process of rail. Used in conjunction with the Rail Unloading Machine, rail clamps are operated via remote control at the end of the train which saves the railroad valuable track time.

The ProScan LIDAR truck was developed to expedite the track survey process. It scans the track surface for defects and generates GPS maps of critical rail assets in the corridor. This data can help identify the proper placement of ballast for distribution and be exported to Herzog’s PLUS and SMART train fleet for automated dumping.

To expand service capabilities and ensure Herzog’s rail flaw detection are the most advanced and reliable systems available, Herzog housed its software engineering, R&D, and maintenance departments in one St. Joseph, MO location where researchers can test rail track technologies under various simulated conditions.

The GEN II Rail Train was designed to improve train handling during transport from the rail plant to the job site. Herzog’s trains are built with end cars on both ends to allow for unloading regardless of which direction the train is heading (when loaded with full-length sticks of rail).

Herzog’s PTC hosting solution grew out of a realization that implementing and maintaining complex back offices at individual railroad offices was not a realistic nor sustainable plan. As a result, Herzog developed a centralized way to support railroads to continue running from Herzog’s state-of-the-art data center and 24/7/365 support desk.

Herzog’s latest rail testing vehicle was created with an ultra-light compact design to allow rail testing where clearance envelopes or tight curves are too restrictive (i.e. yards, crossovers, industry spurs, or transit tunnels) for conventional hi-rail equipped vehicles.

HTSI carries Its 200,000,000^th passenger.

Herzog’s newest unloading machine, the Automated Conveyor Train (ACT) was released to stockpile stone, ballast, or sand around road crossings and curves. The operator can control which car is unloaded first, enabling multiple material types to be handled in one consist. The ACT can unload in a 13-degree curve and dump up to 2,000 tons an hour.

Herzog develops a cutover trailer for railway signal and communications system testing. The mobile unit offers engineers a safe, lab environment to test one or multiple control points along the line.