AB InBev Holds Key to South Riverfront Trail

Of Trains and Beer

A brief article buried deep within the Post-Dispatch last week raised the possibility of completing a long-anticipated project on the South St. Louis riverfront. In-Bev, the Belgian owner of Anheuser-Busch, has been seeking Federal permission to liquidate the brewery’s 124 year old long private railway. The railway, built to deliver ice and grains to the brewery and ship out refrigerated beer, is losing over $1 million annually. Although A-B has already selected an operator for the Manufacturers Railway tracks, the US Surface Transportation Board wants A-B to fully fund MRS’s current unionized workers. A-B believes that that cost is prohibitive.

There is a solution that will help A-B save money and help the city gain access to the riverfront: donate the majority of the rail infrastructure around the brewery for the South Riverfront Trail and sell off the valuable interconnections to the north.