Jim Cunningham, Manager
E-Mail Address: jcunningham@markelcorp.com
Phone: (804)273-1424
Fax: (804)273-1435

The Essex Railroad Division was established to provide property and inland coverages for certain targeted areas of the railroad industry. The division focuses its efforts on shortline (Class III) and regional (Class II) railroads; tourist and scenic railroads; commuter and light rail; leased railroad equipment; and railroad equipment owned by non-railroad companies. The business is written on a non-admitted basis through specialized brokers and Essex core of brokers.

The Railroad Division endeavors to concentrate on the coverage areas that are most often ignored by other railroad underwriters - property and inland marine. Using in-house treaty capacity of $5,000,000 and available facultative capacity, the Railroad Division can easily customize a program for any size account, whether large or small.

Coverage forms used vary from ISO to Essex to manuscript depending on the nature and needs of the risk. The objective is to develop to custom program that properly protects the insured in all property and inland marine exposure areas.

Our General Liability product focus is unique in that we are the only market that targets Class III railroads (Short Lines) as our primary emphasis.  Our policy form offers standard GL coverage (modified ISO language customized to railroad’s needs) plus FELA (Federal Employee Liability Act) coverage, CCC coverages (for foreign rolling stock and bill of lading), and limited pollution coverage on claims made contract.  Minimum SIR’s are $25,000 on freight operations and generally $5,000 on all other exposures, including tourist and scenic railroads.  Our capacity is routinely $10,000,000 with reinsurance arrangements available to stretch that to $25,000,000. 

Essex Railroad Division is led by Jim Cunningham, who has been underwriting railroad business for 30 years with a focus in the property and inland marine areas.