Freight and General New England RR News

NHMaples said:
This is from a March 16 article, but I'm not sure how new tracks constructed on the base would connect to the existing line.

"State Rep. David Vieira, R-Falmouth, meanwhile, said the Legislature is already considering a new rail-spur option for Otis Air Base on Joint Base Cape Cod that would, if necessary, replace the Cataumet tracks."

It seems to me that the possibility of receiving $20,000,000 in Covid stimulus funds is part of the incentive for moving ahead with the rail-to-trail option for Phase 4 sooner rather than later, but without a replacement for the existing spur I don't see how that could happen.

Bourne officials endorse Bourne Rail Trail plan, federal funds sought (capecodtimes.com)
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They wouldn't connect. See the link in this post for the proposed relocation plan. It's a 2-mile spur running along Route 28 dead-ending at the Bourne landfill. It's 5 miles away from Joint Base, and 8 miles by road from Cassova transload. It's completely, utterly useless and completely, utterly non-serious.

"Sooner rather than later" is not going to happen, because MassDOT gets handed an instant loss in front of the STB if they try to break their trackage rights contract with Mass Coastal before the contract term ends. The only opening they have is during the contract renewal process, when they can aim to get the Falmouth Secondary excluded from any renewal. That's still going to prompt a legal challenge they may not win, but it's the state's best shot if they're going to side with the bike lobby. But it's almost certainly not timeline-compatible with COVID funds before they run out.
 
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www.trains.com

Norfolk Southern claims CSX violations of Pan Am Railways agreements hurt competition and service in New England - Trains

ATLANTA – Norfolk Southern, in a lawsuit filed this week in Delaware, accuses CSX Transportation of hampering its access to New England by repeatedly violating the operating agreements related to CSX’s 2022 acquisition of regional Pan Am Railways. The agreements became conditions for the Surface...
www.trains.com www.trains.com

Norfolk Southern sues CSX over allegedly poor handling of Pan Am Southern territory since last year's PAR merger.
NS says that CSX has been violating the agreements by:
  • Exceeding train-length and train-count restrictions through Ayer, which has created congestion and blocked NS access to the yard and its nearby intermodal and auto ramps.
  • Delaying the startup of the Berkshire & Eastern, which has contributed to a shortage of Pan Am Southern train crews. PAS had 84 train and engine employees in May 2022 but as of last month had just 66.
  • Improperly using scarce Pan Am Southern crews to handle CSX trains rather than to move freight for NS and Pan Am Southern customers.
  • Dragging its feet on capacity projects in Ayer as well as clearance projects on Pan Am Railways between Worcester and Ayer in preparation for the start of NS intermodal service under the trackage-rights deal. “CSX knows that Norfolk Southern operation over its route will improve Norfolk Southern’s competitive position in the market, and as such CSX is highly motivated to delay any work on these improvements for as long as it can,” NS says.
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Most likely they are trying to shake loose some expedited improvements for Ayer intermodal, the Patriot Corridor, and the labor situation. Secondarily, NS might be trying to get CSX to expedite selling its 50% stake in Pan Am Southern so the two competitors don't need to work together anymore.
 
A friend sent this screenshot of the latest volley against the Falmouth Branch. The ad was a half page, I think from the Bourne Enterprise.
1693002045660.jpeg
 
Pull up the Shining Sea Bikeway
The Falmouth Secondary is the key to completing 70 miles of uninterrupted, multi-use rail from Boston to the Steamship Authority, which will be within a 15 min bike ride for 2.5 Million residences…

/s but not really
 
Highwayguy said:
Pull up the Shining Sea Bikeway
The Falmouth Secondary is the key to completing 70 miles of uninterrupted, multi-use rail from Boston to the Steamship Authority, which will be within a 15 min bike ride for 2.5 Million residences…

/s but not really
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Where do the 50 miles of uninterrupted trail on the mainland side of the Canal come from...ripping up the Old Colony main too??? :rolleyes:


I love how this is coached all in branding of "Save The Trail" as if it's a pre-existing trail that's in danger of getting ripped out for the evil trains. Like it's a Sophie's Choice of "gotta rip something up."
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
Where do the 50 miles of uninterrupted trail on the mainland side of the Canal come from...ripping up the Old Colony main too??? :rolleyes:


I love how this is coached all in branding of "Save The Trail" as if it's a pre-existing trail that's in danger of getting ripped out for the evil trains. Like it's a Sophie's Choice of "gotta rip something up."
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I meant that as a tongue and cheek play on the the ad, except removing the trail and (re)extending the tracks to Woods Hole.
 
The wording of the ad is confusing. It's trying to say that "rail with trail" is a fantasy, but to me it reads like it's saying that the fantasy is that rail-with-trail is not feasible.
 
CSX plans to demolish the last signal house in NH.

Built more than a century ago, the building tucked between active train lines and the Water Street bridge handled signals for Concord’s huge Boston & Maine rail yards, when Concord was a hub for freight and passenger train service in northern New England. It ended that service in 1980, and from 1985 to around 2010 served as headquarters for the independent Southern New England railroad. It has been empty since.

Sept. 6 meeting to discuss whether to save railroad signal building www.concordmonitor.com/railroad-tower-meeting-concord-nh-signal-52003489
 
Also quite disingenuous to claim that the towns make a paltry revenue from rail related business, while ignoring how much the towns save from not having to truck out the trash.
 
www.railwayage.com

Berkshire & Eastern Readies for PAS Operations - Railway Age

Nearly 18 months after CSX acquired Pan Am Systems, Inc. and its short line subsidiaries, Berkshire & Eastern Railroad is set to take over as operator of Pan Am Southern LLC (PAS).
www.railwayage.com www.railwayage.com

Berkshire & Eastern RR (finally) takes over as freight operator of the former Pan Am Southern network (Patriot Corridor + Conn River Line) on Friday. CSX has been moving scores of old junker Pan Am locomotives from Maine to Ayer this week in prep for B&E's launch.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
MassDOT's 2024-28 Capital Investment Plan still has a whole wad of improvements projects slated for the Falmouth Secondary. . .

View attachment 42190
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A few Cape legislators are also raising the topic of adding a lot more Boston <> Hyannis and restarting Boston <> Falmouth trips.

I also shared this in the commuter rail thread:

Aprehensive_Words said:
https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/HD4555

Rep. Dylan Fernandes (an up-and-commer, plus the Islands' rep) and the two state reps who cover Sagamore, Sandwich, Barnstable and Hyannis are trying to raise the issue of launching commuter service to the Cape.
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Looks like today is the last CSX run to Peabody, MA. Photos are circulating of a Pan Am Railways (#516, IIRC) decorated with a placard on the front noting the "Last Run to Peabody"
 
fatnoah said:
Looks like today is the last CSX run to Peabody, MA. Photos are circulating of a Pan Am Railways (#516, IIRC) decorated with a placard on the front noting the "Last Run to Peabody"
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Quite sad. Do we know what might become of the line? Between the militancy we are seeing with the bike path group in Falmouth and the decision Danvers already made to turn their section into a trail, it will be really important to keep tracks in the ground if we want to preserve any chance of getting much-needed regional rail to Peabody Sq. Is there any way of speeding up that proposal? Maybe MBTA could launch a pilot?
 
YouTube video of the last run, images from numerous vantage points. Caption said this was the last frieght run on the North Shore.

 
michaelw37 said:
Quite sad. Do we know what might become of the line? Between the militancy we are seeing with the bike path group in Falmouth and the decision Danvers already made to turn their section into a trail, it will be really important to keep tracks in the ground if we want to preserve any chance of getting much-needed regional rail to Peabody Sq. Is there any way of speeding up that proposal? Maybe MBTA could launch a pilot?
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It takes 2 years after last service to petition the federal Surface Transportation Board to abandon a line (the CSX South Peabody Branch from the Square and west) and discontinue trackage rights (the MBTA Peabody Branch east of the Square), so nothing is going to happen immediately. And there's also the matter of what happens to the Rousselot plant. If the real estate is marketed as industrial with a rail siding, CSX almost certainly isn't going to abandon its rights as long as there's a slim possibility of a new rail tenant going in. CSX/Pan Am have been keeping the end of the line past Rousselot to First Ave. listed as "active/out-of-service" for over 25 years now on the almost-zero but nonzero chance that one of the sidings out there happens to snag a new customer, and they collect a very small amount of revenue as rent for Peabody Municipal Light's power line on the ROW. Same deal with the small rump of the Medford Branch...no moves in 13 years, but no abandonment filing in sight because the prospects haven't been absolute-zero. So it's quite likely that several to many years are going to go by before there's any status update whatsoever on the fate of that trackage.

Peabody is an unusually pro-rail suburb for Greater Boston, with vociferous proponents for Commuter Rail...even to the point of calling for "light rail shuttle" studies on the trackage because they want it so bad. So there'll probably be a pivot of "we've gotta use it or lose it" with renewed zeal for passenger service. And even if the state has no intention of acting on it, the community dialogue alone will chew up several years and make sure that the tracks don't go fully abandoned. I would surely expect that a pop-up NIMBY trail lobby is going to assemble and start peddling a trail while pooh-poohing pax rail; that's to be expected anywhere. But the Danvers trail has had its 99-year lease with the MBTA for over 10 years and yet there's been absolutely no movement on plunking down the trail (the fact that a burned river bridge has to be repaired means they're waiting for some big-ticket punchlist items from the state that haven't been forthcoming). So that also eases the pressure as there's not a whole lot to connect to recreationally until the Danvers trail ever gets itself sorted.

There's no way the T can launch a shuttle pilot with current conditions. The track is 10 MPH rough-riding jointed rail, and all of the crossings in Peabody are un-protected meaning the train crew has to get out and flag the crossings from lack of bells/flashers. The ROW is also flood-prone because the whole of Downtown Peabody is flood-prone, and needs more stabilization from washouts. While full-on Commuter Rail to the Square is not a pricey proposition at all, there's still some very significant work to do to the line before so much as a limited trial can be done.


Bottom line...expect a whole lot of nothing but talk to actually happen one way or another for perhaps the rest of this decade.
 
vanshnookenraggen said:
As someone fighting for a rails and trail project, this gets my blood boiling. Anyone who claims to be pro bikes but is anti-rail is a lair.
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IMO, they see the bikes as passive recreation... and not "Not Cars". There's very little to do on the Cape during The Other Nine Months. Passive recreation is one of those things.
 
STB has voted to establish reciprocal switching. Not sure about immediate implications for freight in New England, but certainly seems like a big change in how the industry operates.

WASHINGTON—Railroads that fail to provide reliable service could be ordered to share tracks with competitors under a proposed rule that backers say will increase competition in the business of moving cows, corn, chemicals and other goods across America.

The rule on so-called reciprocal switching, proposed Thursday by the Surface Transportation Board, is seen as a way to improve efficiency among major freight lines that have struggled to move goods and supplies from farms, factories and ports, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic...

The board’s goal, he said, is to have the threat of increased competition motivate railroads to boost their on-time performance: “We’d rather you solve it yourself.”
The bipartisan, five-member board voted unanimously in favor of the proposed rule. If adopted, it would require all six of the nation’s Class 1 railroads to maintain uniform data on their on-time performance. When a railroad fails to meet minimum service standards, customers could file complaints and regulators would be empowered to order that it offer competitors the ability to serve the same customers.

A railroad looking to fulfill a farmer’s order, for example, would have to let a competing railroad bid for the farmer’s business—and then let the competitor’s car roll over its tracks to move the shipment.

The move sets up a clash with the railroad industry, which has previously opposed reciprocal switching, arguing that it would undercut the railroads’ business and result in increased congestion.

“Any switching regulation must avoid upending the fundamental economics and operations of an industry critical to the national economy,” Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jefferies said on Thursday."
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