Houston Belt and Terminal Railway Company

{{Short description|Terminal railway in Houston, Texas, United States}}

{{primary sources|date=April 2023}}

{{Use American English|date = April 2023}}

{{Use mdy dates|date = April 2023}}

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| name = Houston Belt and Terminal Railway

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| parent_company = Union Pacific and BNSF Railway

| headquarters = 501 Crawford Street, Room 100, Houston, TX 77002-2113

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| start_year = {{Start date|1905}}

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Houston Belt & Terminal Railway Company is a terminal and switching railroad and owner of industrial property in Houston, Texas, United States that also formerly operated Houston's Union Station.{{cite web | url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/houston-belt-and-terminal-railway | title=TSHA | Houston Belt and Terminal Railway }}{{cite book |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Houston:_Where_Seventeen_Railroads_Meet_the_Sea |title=Houston: Where Seventeen Railroads Meet the Sea |last=Farbar |first=Jerome Hammond |year=1913 |publisher=H. H. Tammen Company |access-date=2023-04-28}}{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/01/07/archives/rail-relief-for-houston-examiners-for-icc-approve-plan-for-revised.html | title=RAIL RELIEF FOR HOUSTON; Examiners for I.C.C. Approve Plan for Revised Terminal | work=The New York Times | date=January 7, 1950 }} It was incorporated on August 31, 1905{{cite web|url=https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_tx/0001471600 |title= Houston Belt & Terminal Railway Company |website= Open Corporates|access-date=2023-04-28}} and was initially owned by four line-haul railway companies that it connected with, Trinity and Brazos Valley Railway Company, the Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway Company, the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway Company and the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company. As a result of mergers and consolidations in the railway industry, the company's shareholders changed. {{As of|2021}}, BNSF Railway owned 50% of the company's shares.{{Cite web |title=BNSF Railway Company Leased Lines and Wholly-Owned Subsidiaries Class 1 Railroad Annual Report To the Surface Transportation Board For the Year Ending December 31, 2021. 310. Investments and Advances Affiliated Companies |url=https://www.bnsf.com/about-bnsf/financial-information/pdf/21R1.pdf |access-date=2023-04-28 |website=BNSF Railway}} {{As of|2023}}, the company is still covered by the Railroad Retirement Act.{{Cite web |title=Employers Covered Under the Railroad Retirement Act |url=https://www.rrb.gov/sites/default/files/2023-03/Covered_Employer_Under_the_RRA.pdf |website=Railroad Retirement Board |date=2023-02-07 |page=20}}

The company's archives from 1905 to 1936 are held by History Colorado.{{cite web | url=https://5008.sydneyplus.com/HistoryColorado_ArgusNet_Final/Portal/Portal.aspx?component=AAFW&record=893f938f-0385-4200-9c7a-1dc4aad9add8 | title=Houston Belt and Terminal Railway Company Collection, 1905-1936 }}

A dispute among railways involving the HB&T was decided by the United States Supreme Court.{{cite web | url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/356/23 | title=HOUSTON BELT & TERMINAL RAILWAY COMPANY, Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, et al., appellants, v. UNITED STATES of America, Interstate Commerce Commission, and Texas & New Orleans Railroad Company }}

{{cite web | url=https://casetext.com/case/houston-belt-terminal-railway-co-v-united-states | title=Houston Belt Terminal Railway Co. V. United States, 153 F. Supp. 3 | Casetext Search + Citator }}