Just across the state line in Pennsylvania is a small town called Westland, a few miles west of I-79 near Washington, PA. If you travel at the posted speed limit on State Route 519, you can pass through Westland in about 30 seconds. But that's assuming you're not stuck behind a truck. And there are many, many trucks passing through Westland and other nearby towns lately. The reason is the shale gas drilling and production boom. There is a huge and growing MarkWest Energy Corp cryogenic gas processing plant just east of town, on top of a hill. The flare from it lights up the night for miles around. There are pipelines coming into it from every direction. But this is for wet gas, which has things like propane, butane, ethylene and more. Individual natural gas liquids are separated out here, stored, and then transported to market. Much of that transportation has been by truck. But that will change very shortly.

 

Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, a Class II or "regional" railroad, is building a six-mile long railroad, much of which is on the former coal mine branch of the erstwhile Montour Railroad. The Montour fell victim to the region's demise of coal mining, steel mills and heavy industry 30 years ago. Most of the railroad rights of way have been gone for so long that, unless a hike-bike trail was placed on it, it is almost impossible to see where the old railroad tracks ran. People were used to not hearing trains anymore, or having them cross their roads, or having them run through their backyards. But they were seeing plenty of trucks! And that's why there was no significant local opposition to this major construction project.

 

How major is it? I was fortunate enough to be at a railroad-related meeting near Westland on July 26, 2012. I had some extra time before my next meeting, up in downtown Pittsburgh, so I went to take a look at how construction was progressing. I was fortunate because it seems I was there at a time to see one of their first trains to travel on it -- a ballast train dumping stone so it can be tamped and the tracks aligned.

 

Here's the Westland Branch that will soon see a couple of 100-car propane trains each day. The red line is, of course, the Westland Branch. The orange line is the existing W&LE line west from Pittsburgh to Mingo Junction, OH (south of Steubenville) to Toledo. The yellow polygon is the MarkWest cryogenic plant....

 

 

 

An overview of where the Westland Branch is....

 

 

 

Trucks. Lots of trucks. Note the propane truck down the street, too, heading through Houston, PA on their way from the MarkWest plant to I-79. These are why few people complain about reactivation of the Westland Branch after 30 years of peace and quiet....

 

 

 

The Montour Railroad's mainline which paralleled the W&LE's mainline for a brief stretch near Southview, PA. But there never was a track connection between the Montour and the W&LE. So one had to be built from scratch. I did not get a photo of this because it was not accessible to me. But another person photographed construction of the new connection last March (the W&LE main is off to the right, with the new connection track descending straight ahead and then to the left)...

 

 

 

In October 2008, and thanks to Google Streetview, this was the view of the Montour Rairload's mainline near Southview, PA. Even though the Montour's tracks were long gone here, there was still a bridge over Southview Road because the Montour was used as a hike-bike trail. This view looks east from near where the connection with the W&LE will be built in four years....

 

 

 

This view is at the same location, looking in the same direction, shot by me on July 26, 2012. That's my car at left, for reference in orientation around this new bridge for the railroad and trail...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving the railroad/trail overpass, looking west behind me as I head east on Southview Road....

 

 

 

 

Looking west in the direction of the overpass of Southview Road and the connection with W&LE, as viewed from Galati Road....

 

 

 

 

 

The Galati Road crossing....

 

 

 

 

Looking east from Galati Road, as the reactivated railroad curves to the south to go under the W&LE. Southview Road parallels the reactivated rail line to State Route 50....

 

 

 

 

Looking north from the side of Southview Road, toward the W&LE overpass of the Montour mainline....

 

 

 

Looking south from the same location, toward the junction of where the Montour's mainline split off to the left (east) and its Westland Branch split off to the right. The trail stays on the mainline. The branch was left to disappear and return to nature, until now....

 

 

 

This is the junction, seen from Southview Road in 2008. This Streetview is looking north toward the W&LE....

 

 

 

The same view today....

 

 

 

Looking in the south-southwest direction in 2008 from Southview Road crossing....

 

 

 

The same view today. As you can see, a lot of money is being put into this railroad line in terms of heavyweight rails, reinforced/stabilized hillsides, concrete retaining walls and more....

 

 

 

Leaving the crossing, looking behind me or north, as I head south to State Route 50 where I will turn west and see a surprise....

 

 

 

If you drove along State Route 50 in 2008 you might pass this location and never know a railroad line crossed here....

 

 

 

Today, there's no doubt a railroad exists here! The concrete panel crossing material continues to the left because trucks turn here into an aggregates business that took over much of the old railroad right of way....

 

 

 

The aggregates business which took over much of the railroad right of way....

 

 

 

In 2008, this is an eastward-looking view along SR50 toward the aggregates business....

 

 

 

Roughly the same view today....

 

 

 

Looking southwest from SR50. It appears the railroad track was routed around the aggregates business, requiring as little property taking as possible. BTW, when the ballast (gravel) is tamped to fit around the ties and tracks, the track will be aligned so the rails are straight or curve smoothly....

 

 

 

And then I find it! What may be one of, if not the first train to travel this railroad since about 1980 when service ended and tracks were pulled. Having finished its work dumping thousands of tons of ballast, this W&LE ballast train reversed its way inch by inch, back north to the mainline....

 

 

 

 

 

 

Were there NIMBYs? Absolutely! If you lived in this house on Hornhead Road, in this quiet hollow in the hills of Southwest PA, with an above ground pool and some kids, I'm sure they weren't happy that this track carrying several 100-car unit trains a day ran less than 30 feet from their back patio door. But most didn't complain about the railroad's reactivation because it meant removing thousands of trucks per day from area roads....

 

 

 

More of the lovely countryside. Note the railroad construction/supervisor SUV in the background....

 

 

 

An embankment stabilized with heavy stones and railroad ties....

 

 

 

This crossing for Johnston Road was relocated with the construction of a new roadway to this safer crossing location, because the former road crossing had steep gradients and poor visibility....

 

 

 

And, finally, the prize at the end of the line. Six miles later, we arrive at MarkWest Energy's Houston, PA plant. Much of the plant cannot be seen, but suffice it to say, the volume of natural gas liquids coming out of this will fill 40-car unit trains each day at the start, growing to 100-car trains in the coming months and years. This is what we will see more of in the coming years in Ohio, as energy companies move from the shallower Marcellus Shale into the deeper, more liquids-rich Utica shale farther west....

 

 

 

A few railroad ties awaited installation last winter at the MarkWest railroad loadout yard! This is now a multi-track yard for staging and loading trains, but I could not get access to it because it is a restricted construction area.....

 

 

 

More of the MarkWest Energy plant, as seen from State Route 519 near the intersection of Ullom Road. The old railroad branch didn't come this far south, so a few thousand feet of new right of way had to be graded and built with a larger railroad yard constructed....

 

 

 

This is a likely future for a number of long-abandoned railroad lines in Ohio. Which ones? Stay tuned.

I love to see reactivation of abandoned or inactivated right of way. It reminds me of around 1980 when NS wanted a midwest connection between their Southern and Norfolk & Western systems and chose the line that runs south from Fort Wayne through Muncie to Cincinnati; in the immediate Fort Wayne area it provided occasional service for a few industries, but a considerable stretch of it south of those industries was buried in weeds with occasional small trees growing between the rails. It ran close enough to my work that I could go out during my lunch break and watch some of the activity.

 

When I see this sort of work I feel vindicated for my years of being ridiculed for advocating the restoration of rail infrastructure to reduce truck traffic and the resultant roadway damage and oil consumption.

 

You metioned a bike trail. Are you saying that the railroad became a bike trail, and then was returned to a railroad?

 

I understand that the rails-to-trails program is meant to use vacant railroad grades as bike trails UNTIL the railroad is reactivated. I can think of some bike trails that are very popular, and most of the users have no clue that it was formerly a railroad, despite all of the unused railroad infrastructure and the easy grade. I can imagine that if the railroad ever tries to reactivate, the bike trail users will be upset, but is there anything they can do about it?

 

 

You mentioned a bike trail. Are you saying that the railroad became a bike trail, and then was returned to a railroad?

 

I understand that the rails-to-trails program is meant to use vacant railroad grades as bike trails UNTIL the railroad is reactivated. I can think of some bike trails that are very popular, and most of the users have no clue that it was formerly a railroad, despite all of the unused railroad infrastructure and the easy grade. I can imagine that if the railroad ever tries to reactivate, the bike trail users will be upset, but is there anything they can do about it?

 

Some of the photos show what appears to be a bike trail separated from the railroad by a low chain-link fence. I've read that in some cases, reclaimed railroad rights-of-way have been designed to retain trails by locating them alongside the railroad at a safe distance and/or separated by a fence.

 

You metioned a bike trail. Are you saying that the railroad became a bike trail, and then was returned to a railroad?

 

Yes.

 

I understand that the rails-to-trails program is meant to use vacant railroad grades as bike trails UNTIL the railroad is reactivated. I can think of some bike trails that are very popular, and most of the users have no clue that it was formerly a railroad, despite all of the unused railroad infrastructure and the easy grade. I can imagine that if the railroad ever tries to reactivate, the bike trail users will be upset, but is there anything they can do about it?

 

 

All this depends on the legal conditions under which the railroad company ceased providing or accommodating rail freight service over its own right of way. Such service is provided under federal law of public convenience and necessity. Under such a law, if you own a railroad right of way and a potential shipper comes to you and asks for service, you must serve them.

 

There are two conditions when this is not the case: abandonment and railbanking.

 

1. Abandonment is the older of the two provisions. Under abandonment, as a railroad, you are asking a federal regulatory body (the Surface Transportation Board or STB) to terminate your rights to continue to use that property for railroad purposes. If you want to use an abandoned right of way for railroad purposes again, you must start over as if no railroad had existed there in the past. That was the case with the Westland Branch, including the Montour mainline where the trail was built on the right of way. In that case, the railroad applies to the STB to have the abandonment vacated. This is a long process that is subject to provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act in which the STB conducts public hearings and solicits public input on potential alternatives to vacating the abandonment, including road improvements and possible other rail options that might cause fewer disruptions to existing property users (ie: residents, businesses, road crossings, historic sites, natural assets, wetlands and, yes, trails). The STB comes up with a preferred option, holds more hearings to input on it. The STB staff makes its recommendation and then the STB board decides whether to accept, reject or modify it.

 

But note that the railroads are one of the few private businesses in this country which has eminent domain-type powers to appropriate private property for its own use because that use is deemed by federal law to serve the public's convenience and necessity. A different railroad than the one which abandoned the right of way can come in to vacate the abandonment. But vacating an abandonment is a difficult proposition which subjects a railroad to much public scrutiny while the STB takes 3-5 years to process the application. There are not many case examples of vacating abandonments and there is no guarantee of success for the railroad in receiving a favorable decision from the STB.

 

2. Railbanking is a relatively new provision, having been passed by Congress in 1982 after a rash of railroad abandonments nationwide following passage of the Staggers Rail Act of 1980 which deregulated the rail industry. Railbanking allows a railroad to terminate its certificate of convenience and necessity for a section of railroad right of way (usually identified by mileposts) WITHOUT ceasing rights to reactivate it for future railroad service. So even if the railroad has pulled up track, sold the land, and a trail has been built in its place, the railroad still has first rights to use the property when it decides to do so. The railroad has to be apply to the STB to reactivate its certificate of convenience and necessity for the railbanked right of way. Until about 10 years ago, there wasn't much case law on reactivating railbanked rights of way. Since then, there have been dozens of reactivations. The STB has NEVER denied a railroad's application to reactivate a railbanked right of way. The STB processes such applications in less than one year, with one application approved in only two weeks!

 

If a trail was built on the right of way, the trail has to move or be abandoned. If the trail was built on a right of way still owned by the railroad company, then the trail may have to remove all improvements it has made -- possibly at the trail owner's/sponsor's expense. If there are still tracks along the right of way, but local or state governments have removed them through road crossings, then they may have to pay to put them back. This can cost tens of thousands per crossing. But sometimes the railroad may choose to help pay for things in trades for other things, such as local goodwill, or asking municipalities to withdraw their opposition submitted to the STB. Railroads may also offer to restrict their hours of operation, such as to not operate while kids are on their way to area schools. But railroads don't have to do this in order to win STB approval to reactivate a railbanked line.

^Thanks for that.

 

:-)