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The
Joliet, Aurora and Northern Railway incorporated April 30, 1884
for the purpose of constructing a new railroad from the Indiana
state line westerly through Joliet and Aurora to the banks of
the Mississippi River opposite Dubuque, IA. Actual operations
began two years later between Joliet and Aurora.
By that time, another group to be known as the Elgin, Joliet and
Eastern, planned to construct a rail line from Valparaiso, IN to Joliet, IL
thence north to join the Milwaukee Road near Elgin. The Elgin,
Joliet and Eastern purchased the completed portions of Joliet,
Aurora and Northern in October 1888 and began its own operation
January 1, 1889.
In January 1891, the EJE acquired two more important links--the
Gardner, Coal City and Northern (which had been built from Caster,
IL south of Coal City to Walker near Plainfield where it joined
the EJE) and the Waukegan and Southwestern (which had been building
from Waukegan toward Elgin). This completed the trackage Waukegan,
IL to McCool, IN just east of Griffith, IN.
EJE moved to serve industries in the Hammond-East Chicago-Whiting
industrial district by acquiring trackage rights in 1894. But
construction of the present line to Gary, Whiting and South Chicago
was begun in 1899 by the Griffith and Northern Rwy. Connections
with the Chicago, Lake Shore & Eastern and the Western Indiana
further penetrated the district. EJE subsequently acquired these
lines. Ownership by United States Steel Corporation began in 1901.
In 1988, U. S. Steel and the Blackstone Group formed Transtar, Inc., a non-carrier holding company, which became the shareholder of Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company, as well as several of the J's affiliated companies. The operations of the Transtar subsidiaries included railroad freight transportation, dock operations and inland river barging.
 The subsidiary companies, several of which are today more than a century old, had been formed over the years to meet the transportation needs of various steel-making facilities that were the predecessors of United States Steel Corporation. In March 2001, the Blackstone Group ended its ownership interest in Transtar, which then became a wholly-owned subsidiary of U. S. Steel.
 The Transtar companies have a long business history, more than 100 years in many cases. The companies provide a broad mix of specialized transportation services, by rail and water. Transtar's core business is serving the transportation needs of the steel, utility, mining, and chemical industries, although other business supplements this core.
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