Fort Worth, Texas
September 4, 2025
North American Rail Solutions, a portfolio company of DFW Capital Partners, has completed a business combination with ZA Railroad Services and its affiliated companies (collectively “ZA”), creating the leading North American provider of specialized railway infrastructure inspection, maintenance, repair and construction services to industrial, short-line, Class 1 and select transit railway operators.
Under the terms of the combination, ZA (and its affiliated operations) will remain a dedicated business unit under the NARS organization – serving as its Class 1 services division in the United States market. The division will continue to be led by Zachary Ainsworth, who will serve as ZA’s President & Chief Operating Officer, and who will remain a significant individual shareholder of NARS as part of the transaction. ZA joins NARS’ other sister companies, including:
- American Track Services (“ATS”) – the leading US-based provider of industrial railroad inspection, maintenance, repair and related MOW services. ATS operates 22 branch offices and serves a national footprint with over 400 employees and over 1,000 industrial and short-line customers.
- Universal Rail Systems (“URS”) – Canada’s leading provider of industrial and Class 1 maintenance and repair services, in addition to signals support and transit flagging. With 16 dedicated locations, URS services over 625 customers in all Canadian provinces with approximately 1,200 employees.
- Tri-Innovations (“TRI”) – a turn-key provider of engineering, permitting, and project
management services for the rail and process manufacturing industries. With over 80 staff in Canada and the US, Tri services industrial, Class 1 and short line customers across North America.
- North American Rail Products (“NARP”) – a distributor of railroad products, including ties, rail, tie plates, spikes, frogs and turnouts – focused largely on the North American industrial rail maintenance and construction markets.
Zachary Ainsworth commented: “I am excited about this business combination with NARS, which will allow ZA to continue to service our important Class 1, short line and industrial customers, while benefitting from the resources and North American reach of a much larger company. As a major shareholder of NARS, I would continue to lead the day-to-day operational and strategic aspects of ZA and am looking forward to working closely with the NARS sister companies to expand the customer base, capabilities and value proposition of the combined business.”
Linda Netterville will continue with ZA and serve as its Chief Financial Officer, working closely with North American Rail’s back office, finance, HR, safety and IT groups to bring more capabilities to the business as it continues its growth.
Tom Lucario, President and CEO of NARS, commented: “We are looking forward to partnering with Zach and the whole ZA team. They have built a great American business doing critically important work to keep the nation’s Class 1 and short line railroads operating safely and efficiently. We are confident that we can bring valuable capital, services and support to help the ZA Companies continue to grow into the leading player in its markets.”
Commenting on the transaction, Keith Pennell, Managing Partner of DFW Capital Partners, noted: “We are thrilled to be partnering with Zack and his team at ZA. This partnership further cements NARS’ position as the leading provider of critical support services to the entire North American rail transportation marketplace. In under four years NARS has growth revenues by over 10x, expanded across the US, into Canada, and across new modes of service. We are proud to have helped build a world-class operating team of dedicated, experienced and customer-centric management dedicated to ensuring the safety, operability and availability of critical railroad infrastructure across all major customer types. We look forward to supporting Zach and his team as we continue to build and expand NARS’ suite of services, geographical footprint and winning company culture.”