Affiliates of Paceline Equity Partners, a Dallas-based private equity manager, have acquired Progress Rail Equipment Leasing, a lessor of railroad maintenance-of-way (MOW) equipment and services, from Progress Rail, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Headquartered outside of Detroit with an office in the greater St. Louis area, PRELC provides its customers with an expansive fleet of MOW equipment used to maintain vital railroad infrastructure. Equipment is utilized for a variety of critical maintenance-related tasks, including railroad tie replacement, ballast adjustments, rail grinding and resurfacing, railroad switch modifications, and bridge inspection and test work. PRELC’s in-house maintenance operation complements its leasing business, ensuring a high-quality and reliable fleet. The company serves a blue-chip customer base comprised of Fortune 500 railroad operators and contractors throughout North America.

“PRELC represents an ideal opportunity for Paceline to invest in an asset-rich operating platform with strong and stable cash flows,” said Sam Loughlin, chief executive officer of Paceline. “Non-discretionary demand stemming from the need to maintain America’s railroad infrastructure remains robust and we expect this business to perform well across various economic cycles, particularly during today’s late-stage economic cycle.”

“We are pleased to finalize the sale of our MOW equipment leasing business to Paceline,” said John Newman, executive vice president of Infrastructure for Progress Rail. “As a leading supplier to the global rail industry, we continuously review our business for overall efficiency and competitiveness. After evaluating our MOW leasing business, we believe it will benefit the company to take these steps to be more efficient in the near term and more competitive long term. While we are exiting the MOW equipment leasing business, Progress Rail will continue to produce Kershaw MOW and vegetation management equipment.”