Railex named corporation of the year by Sch'dy chamber The Business Review (Albany)
Railex LLC, a company that makes cross-country deliveries of fresh produce by train, will receive top corporate honors at the Chamber of Schenectady County's annual business awards dinner in October.
Railex, which has about 150 employees at its Rotterdam hub, will be honored as corporation of the year at an Oct. 21 dinner at Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia. Railex is headquartered in Long Island.
"Schenectady has much to celebrate these days, and our vibrant business community is a big part of the renaissance," said Angelo Mazzone, who chairs the chamber's board of directors. Mazzone founded, owns and operates Glen Sanders Mansion.
The other awards and their winners include:
Entrepreneur of the year: Ray Bleser, owner, Northeastern Fine Jewelry Inc. The award recognizes the leader of a company with less than 100 employees; Executive of the year: Ray Gillen, chairman of the Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority. The award is "reserved for a natural-born leader and charismatic go-getter;" Tech Valley Innovation award: TransTech Systems Inc., a company that creates systems that test asphalt and soil at construction sites; Rising Star award: LT's Grill, in Niskayuna. The award goes to a business less than two years old that "exhibits potential for long-term success;" Say Schenectady tourism award: Schahet Hotels, which owns the Holiday Inn and Hampton Inn in Schenectady. Enterprise of the year: The Mossey Group, a marketing communications firm in Schenectady. The chamber will also honor Gabriel Basil, the retiring president of Schenectady County Community College, at its October dinner.
Why wouldn't this be celebrated in the same town that the company does business? How about over at Mallozzis? Don't want to bring people to Rotterdam to actually maybe do some side business? Congrats, Railex.
Mr. Mazzone (Glen Sanders) is the chair of the Chamber of commerce. Also, if you notice, Railex was the only Rotterdam business being honored. The rest were not.
OK, I see, but if the BIGGEST reward was going to someone in Rotterdam, then I still lean my way. It's not as though Jumpin' Jacks was getting the reward, so it should be in the same area (not that I think Jumpin' Jacks is bad, they're GREAT (as Tony the tiger says!)).
Railex invests $800G in new track at Rotterdam facility Friday, August 22, 2008 By Justin Mason (Contact) Gazette Reporter
ROTTERDAM — Railex has nearly completed work on a new track near its 250,000-square-foot facility in the Rotterdam Corporate Park. The new set of rails is the fourth at the facility and represents a nearly $800,000 investment by the fledgling company, which first opened for business in October 2006. Paul Esposito, vice president of sales and logistics for Railex, said the tracks will help accommodate a third train the company expects to add in late September. But instead of bringing produce from the company’s warehouse in Wallula, Wash., the new train will be hauling agricultural goods from California’s sun belt. By next month, Esposito said Railex will open a 200,000-square-foot cold storage facility in Delano Calif., which will begin shipping a variety of sensitive, West Coast-grown produce to the East Coast. These items include everything from lettuce to cherries and grapes, “pretty much whatever the consumer demands,” he said. Esposito said the climate-controlled trains have already been hauling loads more sensitive than the onions, citrus and potatoes they initially carried. But instead of hauling it from the source in California, trucks have shipped the produce and products north to the company’s facility in Washington, which packages the trains for Rotterdam. The third train will operate much like the others, with the company’s usual guarantee that product will move from west to east in less than five days. The company expects to haul the equivalent of 400 truckloads of product from its California facility each week. Esposito said products aboard the Railex trains won’t be limited to produce. The company has already shipped more than 1 million bottles of wine from the Columbia Gorge region on the border of Oregon and Washington. “They used to have the long haul by truck,” he said, “but they saw the benefit of utilizing the Railex system.”
ROTTERDAM Railex line to haul Calif. produce West Coast facility is slated to open in fall BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter
Railex has added a new set of tracks at the Rotterdam Corporate Park in anticipation of the fall opening of its new facility in California. The company has nearly completed work on the tracks near its 250,000-square-foot Rotterdam produce distribution operation. The new set of rails is the fourth at the facility and represents a nearly $800,000 investment by the company, which opened for business in October 2006. Paul Esposito, the vice president of sales and logistics for Railex, said the tracks will help accommodate a second train the company expects to add sometime in late September. But instead of bringing produce from the company’s warehouse in Wallula, Wash., the new train will be hauling agricultural goods from California. By next month, Esposito said Railex will open a 200,000-squarefoot cold storage facility in Delano, Calif., which is to start shipping West Coast produce east. These items will include lettuce, broccoli and grapes, “pretty much whatever the consumer demands,” he said. Esposito said the climate-controlled trains have already been hauling loads more fragile than the onions, citrus fruits and potatoes they initially carried. Trucks now ship the produce and products north to the company’s facility in Washington, which packages the trains for Rotterdam, where they are sent on for regional distribution. The new train will operate much like the others, with the company’s usual guarantee that products will move from west to east in less than five days. The company expects to haul the equivalent of 400 truckloads from its California facility each week, a figure that could increase if a third train is added next year as anticipated. Esposito said products aboard the Railex trains won’t be limited to produce. The company has already shipped more than 1 million bottles of wine from the Columbia River basin along the Oregon and Washington border. “They used to have the long haul by truck,” he said. “But they saw the benefit of utilizing the Railex system.” With each 55-car train, the company estimates, it hauls an estimated 220 truckloads of produce cross-country each week, saving roughly 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel per train and lowering emissions by 85,000 metric tons per year. Each boxcar is climate-controlled and outfitted with a GPS transponder, which allows both Railex and its customers to track shipments. Demand for the service is enough that even the size of the Railex trains has risen. Esposito said trains during the growing season in Washington have expanded to upwards of 70 cars. Railex is also planning to establish a southeastern hub somewhere in southern Georgia or Florida. Eventually, the company plans to establish another terminus in the east-central United States, somewhere between Memphis, Tenn., and St. Louis., Mo. Last week, the company was designated the Corporation of the Year, an honor presented by the Chamber of Schenectady County to large businesses distinguished by growth. Ray Gillen, executive director of the Metroplex Development Authority, lauded the rapid growth of Railex, which his agency helped bring to the corporate park in 2006. He said the company has demonstrated how efficient transportation can foster rapid economic growth not only in the county but in other areas of the nation. “This investment is another sign of Railex’s success both in Rotterdam and around the nation as more and more customers sign up to use their super-fast and fuel-efficient transportation system,” he said of the company’s expansion.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 - 1:29 PM EDT Railex receives first produce delivery from Calif.
The Business Review (Albany)
The first rail delivery of produce from California arrived this morning at Railex in Rotterdam, N.Y., a significant achievement for the growing distribution company.
The 55-car train from Delano, Calif., arrived at 6 a.m. today at Railex’s depot at the Rotterdam Industrial Park, officials said.
The trip took less than five days and saved an estimated 100,000 gallons of diesel fuel that would have been needed to transport the same produce by tractor trailers.
After arriving in Rotterdam the produce is distributed to supermarket chains and other food companies.
Railex opened the distribution warehouse in 2006, investing more than $20 million to build the 250,000 square foot facility. The company also operates a facility in Wallula, Wash.
Railex recently invested more than $800,000 to expand rail access in anticipation of the arrival of trains from California.
Suit says noose left in locker Ex-Railex worker claims racial discrimination complaint led to his firing
By PAUL NELSON, Staff writer First published in print: Saturday, November 15, 2008
ROTTERDAM — A black warehouse worker claims he was fired from Railex after complaining about discrimination, and that on his last day he found racially offensive comments scrawled on his locker and a noose hanging inside it.
In his civil action filed in federal court, Noel Sealy said he joined Railex in November 2006 as a pallet jack driver at the Rotterdam Industrial Park site. The suit said he was repeatedly subjected to racial discrimination that included derogatory racial slurs by managers and co-workers, creating a hostile work environment.
After he went to supervisors, they retaliated by firing him, according to the court document. The suit said Sealy didn't believe the company ever investigated what happened at his locker.
In response to the legal action, filed during the summer, Railex in September denied all the allegations outlined in the suit and requested the complaint be dismissed.
The civil action seeks unspecified damages and legal fees. Sealy's attorney, Adam Virant of New York City, declined comment Friday.
Paul Esposito, Railex's spokesman in Rotterdam, said Friday afternoon he was unaware of the suit and would look into it, but failed to immediately return a call seeking comment. David E. Block, an attorney representing Railex, was on vacation Friday and could not be reached for comment.
The matter is scheduled for an initial conference Monday morning before U. S. Magistrate Judge David E. Peebles in Syracuse. The legal action was filed in Northern District of New York in July.
ROTTERDAM Railex settles with worker who claimed racial slurs BY JUSTIN MASON Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Justin Mason at 395-3113 or jmason@dailygazette.net.
Railex has settled a civil suit brought by a former pallet-jack driver who claimed his managers and co-workers used racial slurs while he was employed at the Rotterdam produce distributor. Company attorney Matthew Woodard acknowledged there was an out-of-court settlement with Noel Sealy, a black worker who was fi red by Railex in 2007. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. “There is nothing I can really say about it,” Woodard said this week. “It’s resolved and that’s all I can say.” Calls placed to both Railex and Adam Virant, Sealy’s attorney, were not returned. Sealy, who listed an Ohio address in the lawsuit, could not be reached for comment. In his claim, Sealy said he was fired from his job as a pallet-jack driver after complaining about his treatment to a supervisor. After his termination, he said he found “racially offensive comments” written on his locker and a noose hanging inside, according to the seven-page complaint filed in U.S. District Court in July 2008. In addition to back pay, Sealy was requesting unspecified damages from Railex. His lawsuit also asked the court to compel the company to craft “an effective policy against such discrimination” in the future. Railex initially denied Sealy was ever subjected to racial discrimination while he was employed at the company and asked the court to dismiss the claim. In November, Woodard said Sealy was fired for “legitimate business reasons” and hadn’t complained about discrimination until discovering an inappropriate remark scrawled on his unsecured locker the..............................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01003
Railex now operating four trains a week from West Coast September 25, 2009 at 2:35 pm by Eric Anderson The food distributor has begun operating two round trips a week between Wallula, Washington and its warehouse in Rotterdam Industrial Park, plus another two round trips a week between Delano, Calif., and Rotterdam.
The company at last count had nearly 200 employees.
The trains are a joint operaton of Union Pacific Railroad and CSX Transportation. While much of the produce has moved from west to east, Railex actively seeks products from the East Coast to send back on the trains.
The appeal of this mode of transport: Each train can replace 200 or more trucks, and reduces consumption of diesel fuel by 100,000 gallons or more, Railex says.
Railex began operating its first train in October 2006.
ROTTERDAM Railex adds jobs, eyes addition 325 people now work at facility BY MICHAEL LAMENDOLA Gazette Reporter
Railex has added 25 workers to its Rotterdam-based distribution center to handle additional product being shipped in from California. The company, which ships produce and other goods, now employs approximately 325 people at the 250,000-square-foot facility in the Rotterdam Industrial Park — more than the target of 300 set when it opened in 2006 with 120 people, said Ray Gillen, chairman of the Metroplex Development Authority. The Rotterdam facility, which is the hub of the company’s Northeast distribution network, could see further job growth should Railex’s owner, ADS of Riverhead, Suffolk County, approve construction of an addition, said Paul Esposito, Railex’s Northeast division and corporate logistics vice president. Esposito said business growth will determine when the addition is constructed. “We are in the planning stages. There is no timeline. We wanted to make sure we were in line with the planned expansion we talked about five years ago,” he said. The Rotterdam Planning Commission in May granted a waiver to the company’s site plan for the proposed expansion. The company is currently awaiting approval of its storm water management plan. When the commission approved Railex’s site plan more than fi ve years ago, it allowed for a 58,000-square-foot expansion. The waiver updates the expansion to 65,000 square feet. Gillen said Railex is “seriously considering an expansion,” but added nothing has been approved. Railex is seeking to modify its 10-year agreement with the Rotterdam Industrial Development Agency and obtain a sales tax exemption for building materials. Gillen said the Rotterdam IDA board has not scheduled the items for discussion at its June meeting next week. Metroplex administers the Rotterdam IDA as well as the Schenectady Industrial Development Agency. The Schenectady IDA constructed a rail loop capable of handling Railex’s mile-long trains without the need to break them up. Trains use the loop to enter the shipping facility, where the cars are unloaded. The IDA used a $2.24 million state grant to build the loop. Esposito said the proposed addition includes five rail unloading locations, allowing the shipping facility to unload 19 train cars at a time, up from the current 14. “I would love to pull the trigger on the expansion. Our origination sites are configured for 19 cars. When they come here, I put in 14 and I unload those and bring in 14 more,” he said. “Nineteen would make us more effi cient.” ..........................>>>>............................>>>>............................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00902&AppName=1
Opening up new markets for farm products produced in Upstate New York --- that is a win.
RailEx is an example of the TREMENDOUS SUCCESS of Metroplex under Mr. Gillen.
As for buying produce at Price Chopper -- I prefer to purchase produce IN SEASON direct from local growers -- sorry Mr. Golub.
George Amedore & Christian Klueg for NYS Senate 2016 Pete Vroman for State Assembly 2016[/size][/color]
"For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground." Lyndon Baines Johnson
Opening up new markets for farm products produced in Upstate New York --- that is a win.
RailEx is an example of the TREMENDOUS SUCCESS of Metroplex under Mr. Gillen.
As for buying produce at Price Chopper -- I prefer to purchase produce IN SEASON direct from local growers -- sorry Mr. Golub.
OK, so I understand your point that the jobs coming in at Railex are a success and that the Metroplex is what brought these in. I question the fact that they are paying no, or next to no taxes to do so. I just wonder...if you support this so much, then why is it that you don't buy the products that are brought in this way? I mean really, if people say that they support it, then don't buy the products, how long will those 325 people stay employed if you keep buying from the local growers?
I guess what I'm saying is that you can't support both the bigger government AND the local growers. It just doesn't make sense. Funny how you support "IN SEASON direct from local growers," but you don't support Mr. Golub. By the way, did you know that local growers can also take and sell their products to Mr. Golub, and they do??? Years ago, when I was in 4H, in the gardening program that they have, we used to grow vegetables in the garden and bring them directly to the warehouse as a vendor. They would then send a check directly back to us as payment for the produce. They would also speak to the people who were bringing it in, when they checked it to see that it was to the quality that they required, giving a good lesson to those children who would like to grow up and become farmers.
And isn't Price Chopper an example of what can happen if the government stays out of the way (with the exception of pulling the jobs out of Rotterdam, which was supported by more Metroplex money)? Or do you think that they would still be the small little Central Market that they used to be way back when?
Personally, I like the fact that the local Price Choppers are now giving double coupons up to 99 cents. A great break for those in the capital region that can plan ahead.
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