This is what happens when you don't invest in the nation's rail system....

 

Alliance Castings Says Layoffs to Begin Jan. 31

http://businessjournaldaily.com/alliance-castings-says-mass-layoffs-to-begin-jan-31/

 

This follows the recent closure of Columbus Castings in its namesake city, along with the permanent loss of 800+ jobs.

New CEO Shakes Up Railroad, Starting With Ramps

CSX’s Hunter Harrison acts quickly on pledge to boost efficiency. First move: rethinking how train cars get sorted

 

Barely a month into his job leading CSX Corp. CSX -1.27% , Hunter Harrison is already executing some signature moves from his railroad-turnaround playbook.

 

First among them: doing away with hump yards, longtime fixtures of rail operators where long trains are broken down into individual cars by pushing them over a hill, then letting gravity send them down different tracks. From there, they are reassembled and sent to their next destination.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/railroad-chief-ramps-up-by-closing-ramps-1492531098

Railroad infrastructure is too important to be left in the hands of a madman like Harrison. It's time for cities and states from Chicago to Albany to unite and fight...

 

 

NEWS LINK - Newly Minted CSX CEO Hunter Harrison Wants To Downsize Albany-Buffalo Mainline To One Track

 

'Railway's Age's Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono in a column today posted online ("What’s going on at CSX?") reported things he has heard from creditable sources within CSX about big changes the new CEO Hunter Harrison (formerly of IC, CN, and CP) wants to make at CSX, including its operations and physical plant. One reported goal was to single track the Chicago Line which hosts Amtrak's 'Empire Service' and the 'Lake Shore Limited'.

 

EXCERPTS: “He currently has a team working on a design to single-track from Albany, N.Y. to Chicago.”

 

“In New York State, we’re starting to witness some problems on the Water Level Route. As the name implies, it’s pretty much flat, save for six miles of 0.89% westbound grade near Batavia. I’ve gone on lunch from work a couple of times now in the past two weeks and heard them talking on the radio about some heavy westbound train stalled into Batavia, and they’re single-tracking around it. ‘In-the-field’ reports suggest that the average size of merchandise freights these days is 800-900 axles with only two units up front. The best that one of these trains could hope for is 5 mph up the 0.89%.

 

“Hunter is out of control. He’s destroying good, experienced railroaders’ lives and careers. He wants to take the premier high-capacity main line in the East, the (ex-New York Central-Penn Central-Conrail) Water Level Route, which Al Perlman reduced from a four-track main to two tracks, and reduce it to a single track. Ten or twelve years ago the railroads were saying they didn’t have enough capacity. Now he wants to reduce it? That’s insanity.”

 

FULL ARTICLE... http://www.railwayage.com/index.php/blogs/william-vantuono/whats-going-on-at-csx.html?channel=00

 

Continued from the above....

 

Imagine The Ohio Turnpike losing three of its six lanes. CSX's two-track mainline via Cleveland carries as much freight tonnage as the Ohio Turnpike. What would Ohio communities, shippers and leaders say? CSX proposes to do the very same thing single-track this major commercial artery.

 

CSX expects it would save money by combining 60 daily trains into 30 longer, slower ones. But it will cut towns in half, worsen safety on the railroad and in towns along the way, as well as hurt shippers with less reliable service. Long freights are much more prone to breakdowns from increased physical stresses.

 

A few Ohio cities to be cut in half by CSX single-tracking its east-west mainline: Defiance, Deshler, N.Baltimore, Fostoria, Tiffin, Willard,  Greenwich, New London, Wellington, Berea, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Euclid, Willoughby, Mentor, Painesville, Geneva, Ashtabula, and Conneaut to name just a few.

Good riddance

 

CSX CEO Harrison dies days after medical leave announced

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN1EA0PK

Eh. Many of the things he ended up doing resulted in positive outcomes for the railroads. Absent of the abrupt relationships he developed with shippers/etc., precision scheduled railroading has been a success.

 

"CP’s key operating metrics all improved dramatically during Harrison’s tenure. From 2012 through 2016, average train speed improved 31 percent; terminal dwell declined 11 percent; fuel efficiency improved 15 percent; and train length grew 21 percent, according to an investor presentation. These efficiency gains, combined with rate increases, helped to triple CP’s profit margin."

 

It's all about data driven metrics, and by following his seven principles (outlined in his book that I am currently reading), CSX can closely align itself with the success he had elsewhere.

 

Where would we be if Toyota and Honda had not demonstrated the ways of Just In Time servicing and lean manufacturing principles? We'd be stuck with a bloated, inefficient automobile manufacturer hierarchy that still haunts GM, Chrysler and (to a smaller extent now) Ford. JIT and other lean principles and guidelines heavily rely on data to inform decision making - going against the grain of accepted thought, unions and long-ago established procedures.

 

Harrison also died of emphysema, attributed to decades of smoking that left him short of breath. He suffocated. Have some sympathy, or at least class.

Get real. He's human garbage. He destroyed railroads and worker's lives every place he's been, and pocketed windfalls of cash for the pleasure. He's a 19th-century robber baron who is hopefully burning in hell. As for "precision railroading" -- anything is possible when you chase away enough low-profit customers to eliminate railroad infrastructure, jobs and decades of investment to create nationally valuable rail corridors. All of that gets trashed to satiate Wall Street and top management. No one else benefits. Certainly not the public....

 

Return of the Railroad Robber Baron

If you don’t pay me $300 million, the new CEO at CSX is threatening, I’ll let your workers keep their jobs.

https://inequality.org/great-divide/return-railroad-robber-baron/

Let me get a big eye roll over here.

 

I bet you clamored the same talking points when Toyota and Honda ate GM/Chrysler/Ford's profits and playbook.

No idea what you're talking about. I don't follow the auto industry. But it does appear they're selling more cars. Every railroad the criminal has run has shrunk its customer base and track-miles. His existence was a living, screaming billboard for nationalization of rail rights of way and open access to entrepreneurial, licensed operators.

Wow! Might be an opportunity for Columbus-Chicago passenger rail or commuter rail established on several routes, or for more shortline/regional freight railroads to expand their operations....

 

CSX reviewing 8,000 miles of rail lines for potential sale or lease

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/01/22-csx-reviewing-8000-miles-of-rail-lines-for-potential-sale

Rural railroads are more important than your new trails

Converting rails to trails can hurt economies and make it harder to battle blazes.

https://www.hcn.org/articles/opinion-rural-railroads-are-more-important-than-your-new-trails-rails-to-trails

Has there really been that much push for abandoning active railroads to turn into trails?  

Sadly, yes. There have been a couple of pretty nasty fights in New York state. @neony could tell you more about it.

Yikes. 

 

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/oh-lorain/multiple-roads-closed-after-train-derails-in-wellington

 

WELLINGTON, Ohio — A massive train pileup caused roads to shutdown after a train derailed in Wellington, located in Lorain County, early Tuesday morning.

Reports of a train derailment in the area of CSX tracks near the intersection of Wheeling Avenue and Magyar Street came in at about 6:05 a.m. 

When fire crews arrived, they found about 15 to 20 cars that were off the track, with one car filled with onions that was partially on fire, according to Wellington Assistant Fire Chief Bill Brown.

"It could've been a lot worse. The hazardous materials are down the line and those have not been affected," said Brown.

 

Someone videotaped the train as it was derailing....

 

 

Wellington is the town that got the grade separation built with funds Kasich & Marchbanks stole from the Cincinnati Streetcar extension to UC. 

If I could make one rule for YouTube it would be that you're not allowed to record a video with your phone of a video playing on a computer.  

 

 

A project more than 100 years overdue....

 

Alaska Railroad OKs historic pact to build new U.S.-Canada rail connection

 

Alaska Railroad Corp. (ARRC) and Alaska to Alberta Railway Development Corp. (A2A) have signed a master agreement of cooperation calling for the construction of a 1,500-mile connection between ARRC’s system and Canadian railroads that also would link to the lower 48 states.

The agreement for the proposed $13 billion project (CA$17 billion) was announced yesterday after approval by ARRC’s board.

“A rail connection between Alaska and Canada and the rest of the United States is a project that has been talked and dreamed about for close to a century,” said ARRC President and Chief Executive Officer Bill O’Leary in a press release. “Completing that connection has amazing potential for Alaska and this agreement between the Alaska Railroad and A2A Rail is an important first step to get the project underway.”

 

MORE:

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/short_lines_regionals/news/Alaska-Railroad-OKs-historic-pact-to-build-new-US-Canada-rail-connection--57921

G&W owns a number of shortlines and regional railroads in and near Ohio, with the largest being the Chicago, Ft Wayne & Eastern (CF&E) that goes from Crestline, OH (near Mansfield) to Gary, IN. The portion of that line from Dunkirk, OH westward is part of the Columbus-Chicago passenger rail initiative. BTW, the Columbus-Marysville-Dunkirk-Bowling Green-Toledo CSX line also is for sale....

 

Brookfield Infrastructure to Acquire Genesee & Wyoming in $8.4 Billion Deal

 

A consortium led by an infrastructure investment arm of Brookfield Asset Management that includes Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, is taking freight railway owner and operator Genesee & Wyoming private in a stock and debt deal.

 

MORE

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/genesee-wyoming-to-be-bought-by-brookfield-asset-management-report-15006852

 

1 hour ago, KJP said:

G&W owns a number of shortlines and regional railroads in and near Ohio, with the largest being the Chicago, Ft Wayne & Eastern (CF&E) that goes from Crestline, OH (near Mansfield) to Gary, IN. The portion of that line from Dunkirk, OH westward is part of the Columbus-Chicago passenger rail initiative. BTW, the Columbus-Marysville-Dunkirk-Bowling Green-Toledo CSX line also is for sale....

 

Brookfield Infrastructure to Acquire Genesee & Wyoming in $8.4 Billion Deal

 

A consortium led by an infrastructure investment arm of Brookfield Asset Management that includes Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, GIC, is taking freight railway owner and operator Genesee & Wyoming private in a stock and debt deal.

 

MORE

https://www.thestreet.com/investing/genesee-wyoming-to-be-bought-by-brookfield-asset-management-report-15006852

 

 

From Brookfield Infrastructure web page:

“We own and operate port, rail and toll road assets moving freight, bulk commodities and passengers across five continents.

10,300 kmRAIL OPERATIONS

4,200 kmTOLL ROADS

37PORTS

 

“Brazilian Integrated Logistics — In 2014, we acquired a 27% stake in VLI, one of Brazil’s largest logistics operators, with 5,000 km of railroads, six port terminals and eight transshipment terminals. VLI is a strong franchise that allows us to participate in the growth of Brazil’s rail space. Since the acquisition, we have undertaken R$9 billion in expansion projects which, combined with rising demand and inflation, should increase cash flows significantly.

 

“Australian Railroad — In 2009, as part of the restructuring of Babcock & Brown Infrastructure, we acquired 5,100 km of below-rail infrastructure in Western Australia under a lease with the State Government extending through 2049. The asset links eight ports supporting miners, farmers, interstate and intrastate freight. In 2010, we began a $700 million, two-year project to enhance the network's capacity and subsequently delivered a 35% increase in freight volumes.”

 

At least they talk about investing in acquired businesses. 

1 hour ago, KJP said:

BTW, the Columbus-Marysville-Dunkirk-Bowling Green-Toledo CSX line also is for sale....

 

 

 

That’s the Ohio Hub Columbus to Toledo passenger rail proposal line, right? 

 

Was CSX the freight rail line  was quietly lobbying against the Ohio 3 C? If so, does their firesale potentially eliminate one anti-passenger rail headwind in OH?

33 minutes ago, Boomerang_Brian said:

 

That’s the Ohio Hub Columbus to Toledo passenger rail proposal line, right? 

 

Was CSX the freight rail line  was quietly lobbying against the Ohio 3 C? If so, does their firesale potentially eliminate one anti-passenger rail headwind in OH?

 

The Columbus-Toledo was one of many routes in the Ohio Hub masterplan.

 

CSX's primary concern was in regards to the lack of added capacity to the Berea-Greenwich portion of its Chicago-East Coast main trunk, which CSX isn't selling. CSX wanted a third main track built over the 42 miles between Berea and Greenwich which wasn't a reasonable request. A double-track railroad with bi-directional crossover tracks every 10 miles and 60 freight trains per day should have no trouble accommodating six more trains (even if they are 79 mph passenger trains). An ODOT consultant (which does work for many freight railroads) did an operational simulation of rail traffic on that segment with the six passenger trains added and saw no operational conflicts, so the state offered no additional capacity to this segment as part of its 3C project. CSX countered that it needed the capacity for future growth and ODOT said "that's your problem." So CSX went to the Kasich campaign, gave them some money, and said stop the 3C project if you're elected. Done.

 

Ironically, there are some things that could help the addition of a third main track from Berea to Greenwich. One is that, when the Ohio Turnpike rebuilt the CSX/3C bridge over its roadway, it was widened to accommodate a third main track. And, on the eight miles between New London and Greenwich, there is a parallel rail right of way that's no longer used which could be reactivated for passenger service. And if there is ever a third main track added here, it should be designed for a baseline 110-125 mph operation.

It's official......

 

OmniTRAX affiliate to acquire Cleveland Commercial Railroad

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/m_a/news/OmniTRAX-affiliate-to-acquire-Cleveland-Commercial-Railroad--58423

To quote Fleetwood Mac "Falling, falling, falling..."

 

 

What's even more bizarre is that the railroads are blaming others for their misfortune. Meanwhile truck traffic has been mostly up so far this year. For railroads, it's been nothing but down....

 

AAR: 45 Straight Weeks of U.S. Traffic Downturn

https://www.railwayage.com/freight/class-i/aar-45-straight-weeks-of-u-s-traffic-downturn/

This is why freight railroads are losing business, not because of trade policies. The fact that truck traffic is mostly up this year underscores this......

 

PRECISION SCHEDULED RAILROADING THREATENS TO GUT AMERICA’S FREIGHT RAIL SYSTEM

https://ttd.org/policy/precision-scheduled-railroading-threatens-to-gut-americas-freight-rail-system

Sounds not unlike VC firms buying media/newspaper companies. The changes are more about extracting every dollar possible on the way to bankruptcy, not long term growth.

In other words, it's probably not going to continue...

 

AAR: U.S. Rail Traffic Sees Gain—But It’s Just Timing

 

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ended Nov. 23, 2019, and for the first time in a long time, traffic saw a healthy uptick. However, Week 47 in 2018 was an early Thanksgiving week in which traffic was normally down. Thus, Week 47’s gain is artificial, a circumstance of timing, a “turkey.”

 

https://www.railwayage.com/freight/class-i/aar-u-s-rail-traffic-sees-huge-gain/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=11817

Freight rail spur funding near Youngstown:

United Freezer obtains Ohio grant for rail spur project

 

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/logistics/news/United-Freezer-obtains-Ohio-grant-for-rail-spur-project--60032

 

The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) earlier this week awarded United Freezer and Storage Co. a $21,000 grant to support rail upgrades at its plant in Austintown, Ohio.
 

The grant will help fund a $42,000 project to improve a rail spur on site that will enable the company to receive 72-foot rail cars.

 

650 N. Meridian Rd. 
Youngstown, OH 44509

 

 

 

 

 

Ohio rail panel OKs Norfolk Southern, short line crossing upgrades

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/c_s/news/Ohio-rail-panel-OKs-Norfolk-Southern-short-line-crossing-upgrades--60289

 

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio(PUCO) yesterday approved the installation of lights and other upgrades at five grade crossings in the state. 

The PUCO approved construction authorization from the Ohio Rail Development Commission directing Norfolk Southern Railway to upgrade active warning devices at the South Lincoln Avenue/CR 444A crossing in Columbiana County and the South Charleston Street/State Route 41 crossing in Springfield by April 22. 

NS will also install traffic interconnection at the Flat Rock/County Road 308 crossing in Bellevue by Oct. 22. 
[more at link]

 

 

Just saw this on the Detroit Shoreway Facebook page this evening.   Matt Zone has drafted a resolution addressing the Norfolk Southern routing of hazmat trains through the City of Cleveland.     He is asking that concerned citizens share with and contact Federal reps and Norfolk Southern executives as interstate commerce is out of local and state jurisdiction, rendering this resolution without teeth.  

 

 

Matt Zone Resolution No. -2020

Council Members Zone

AN EMERGENCY RESOLUTION
Condemning Norfolk Southern Corporation for rerouting daily trains carrying highly toxic flammable crude oil and ethanol through the City of Cleveland, without public notice; strongly urging Norfolk Southern Corporation to immediately cease this rerouting; urging Norfolk Southern Corporation to withdraw its request to the Federal Railroad Administration to reduce the rail and traffic handling capacity of the only reliever route between Chicago and Pittsburgh, thus causing more traffic through Cleveland; and further urging that all hazardous materials shipments not originating or terminating in the City of Cleveland be moved to less populous routes.

WHEREAS, on April 7, 2020, without public notice, Norfolk Southern Corporation (NS) permanently rerouted through the City of Cleveland several daily trains in each direction, each comprised entirely of more than 100 tank cars filled with highly toxic and flammable crude oil and ethanol, as well as empty backhauls; and

WHEREAS, these trains travel between the Bakken Region of North Dakota and refineries near Philadelphia; each railroad tank car carries about 30,000 gallons of product while each train carries about 3 million gallons; when combined with existing traffic through Cleveland, more than 10 million gallons of crude oil or ethanol pass through Cleveland each day; and

WHEREAS, these loaded oil and ethanol trains have been permanently rerouted from a much less populated route called the Fort Wayne Line, going through Fort Wayne, Indiana, and travelling east through the cities of Lima, Mansfield and Canton, Ohio; as of April 7, 2020, the trains began traveling east of Fort Wayne through the cities of Fostoria, Bellevue, Vermilion, Elyria, Berea, Brook Park, Cleveland, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, Bedford, Macedonia, Hudson and on the way to near Pittsburgh; and

WHEREAS, the crude oil and ethanol trains have been rerouted from a rail corridor through nine Ohio counties (Van Wert, Allen, Hardin, Wyandot, Crawford, Richland, Ashland, Wayne, Stark) with a combined population of 892,077 to a rail corridor through 12 Ohio counties (Paulding, Putnam, Hancock, Seneca, Sandusky, Huron, Erie, Lorain, Cuyahoga, Summit, Portage, Stark) with a combined population of 3,558,133; and

WHEREAS, the crude oil and ethanol trains cross over several rivers near their Lake Erie mouths, most especially the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland.; tfhe trains cross the Cuyahoga River on a lift bridge at its mouth, only three nautical miles from the Lake Erie water intake crib which provides Greater Cleveland with most of its water supply; and

WHEREAS, the rerouted NS crude oil and ethanol trains travel within a few feet of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s (GCRTA) Red Line rapid transit for 6.5 miles with no physical barrier between the two rail corridors to prevent derailed freight cars, each weighing up to 125 tons, to enter the path of GCRTA trains that carry more than 20,000 passengers each weekday; and

WHEREAS, the rerouted crude oil and ethanol trains through Cleveland also cause these dangerous shipments to share tracks with four nightly Amtrak passenger trains that carry more than 600,000 travelers per year, or an average of 1,600 passengers per night; and

WHEREAS, in July 2012, 17 cars of an NS freight train derailed due to a broken rail near the Ohio State Fairgrounds in Columbus; tank cars carrying ethanol caught fire and exploded, forcing the evacuations of more than 100 homes; that train had a variety of rail cars and shipments in it, unlike the trains that are being rerouted through Cleveland which are comprised entirely of over 100 tank cars carrying crude oil and ethanol; and

WHEREAS, in October 2007, two ethanol tank cars in a 112-car CSX freight train ruptured and caught fire during a derailment of 31 cars in Painesville, Ohio, forcing the evacuations of 1,300 residents within a half-mile of the scene; the incident was caused by the incorrect installation of a new rail; firefighters were able to keep the ethanol cars cool to prevent explosions and created a makeshift dam to prevent leaking hazardous materials from poisoning the Mentor Marsh; and

WHEREAS, additionally, on March 20, 2020, NS filed with the Federal Railroad Administration a request to reduce the rail traffic handling capacity of NS’s only bypass route around Greater Cleveland; this was the route that NS’s crude oil and ethanol trains had been using until April 7, 2020.

WHEREAS, specifically, NS has requested permission to remove about 33 miles of parallel second main track over a 100-mile section of its Fort Wayne Line route between mileposts 84.8 (near Alliance, Ohio) and 188.3 (near Crestline, Ohio); this second main track allows two trains traveling in opposite directions to safely pass each other; the loss of this second main track would greatly reduce the rail traffic handling capacity of this route which is NS’s only reliever route between the nation’s rail and traffic interchange gateway in Chicago and NS’s major rail yard at Conway, PA near Pittsburgh; and

WHEREAS, downgrading the Fort Wayne Line east of Crestline, Ohio will permanently and significantly diminish the capacity of NS’s only bypass route around Greater Cleveland and the only traffic congestion and emergency relief route for NS’s very busy Chicago Line (west of Cleveland) and Cleveland Line (east of Cleveland) into Conway Yard and points East; and

WHEREAS, this resolution constitutes an emergency measure for the immediate preservation of public peace, property, health or safety, now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CLEVELAND:

Section 1. That, this Council condemns Norfolk Southern Corporation for rerouting daily trains carrying highly toxic flammable crude oil and ethanol through the City of Cleveland, without public notice; strongly urges Norfolk Southern Corporation to immediately cease this rerouting; urges Norfolk Southern Corporation to withdraw its request to the Federal Railroad Administration to reduce the rail and traffic handling capacity of the only reliever route between Chicago and Pittsburgh, thus causing more traffic through Cleveland; and further urges that all hazardous materials shipments not originating or terminating in the City of Cleveland be moved to less populous routes.

Section 2. That the Clerk of Council is directed to transmit copies of this resolution to: Norfolk Southern Corporation c/o Marque Ledoux, Vice President, government relations; the Federal Railroad Administration; the U.S. Surface Transportation Board; the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio; the Ohio Rail Development Commission; Congresspersons Marcy Kaptur, Marcia Fudge, Bob Gibbs, David Joyce and Tim Ryan; Senators Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman; and all members of the Ohio General Assembly whose districts include the City of Cleveland.

Section 3. That this resolution is hereby declared to be an emergency measure and, provided it receives the affirmative vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to Council, it shall take effect and be in force immediately upon its adoption and approval by the Mayor; otherwise it shall take effect and be in force from and after the earliest period allowed by law.

So NS introduces Precision Scheduled Railroading and drives away customers who don't generate enough profits to keep Wall Street happy. In other news, several major restaurant chains have stopped serving food in order to reduce food costs. The new business model is called Precision Scheduled Dining....

 

Norfolk Southern to idle Bellevue hump yard

 

Norfolk Southern Railway has notified workers that it will close its Bellevue hump yard operation in northern Ohio, The Toledo Blade reported yesterday.

 

Eight years ago, NS invested $160 million to double the size of the Bellevue rail-car sorting yard. In 2015, the Class I renamed the yard after Wick Moorman, the now-retired NS chairman and chief executive who oversaw the yard's expansion.

 

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/norfolk_southern/news/Norfolk-Southern-to-idle-Bellevue-hump-yard--60769

 

freight rail upgrade for an ohio line:

 

 

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/mow/news/Ohio-project-would-rehab-Indiana-Ohio-Railway-operated-Greenfield-Line--61281

Here’s a crazy train fire and bridge collapse near Phoenix a few weeks ago. At the end of this video there’s a shot of a light rail train going through the smoke, which seems pretty crazy. 

 

 

Ohio commission OKs two grants for rail infrastructure repair projects
 

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/mow/news/Ohio-commission-OKs-two-grants-for-rail-infrastructure-repair-projects--61612

I’m not sure exactly where this is, but it is on the line to the Solon Nestle plant, so I’m assuming somewhere on that line from Randall through Bedford Heights into Solon.  (Which would make a great Commuter Rail line.)

 

“The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC) this week approved grant awards for Cleveland and Cuyahoga Railway LLC (CCRL), an OmniTRAX Inc. property, and Huhtamaki Inc. for rail-related projects.

ORDC approved a grant award of up to $300,000 to CCRL to help repair a stone arch culvert on the railroad's Mahong Subdivision. In June, the embankment adjacent to the culvert failed, requiring the railroad to perform emergency repairs to bring the rail line back into service. Based on the culvert's condition, CCRL took additional action to stabilize the structure and completed the interim repairs. 

However, additional repairs to the culvert are necessary to keep the rail line in service, CCRL officials said in a press release issued by ORDC. The rail line serves a Nestle Corp. plant, which provides local jobs in Solon, Ohio. The grant funds, along with a 50-50 match, will help the railroad afford the repair costs, they said.”

 

I believe this is for Hawthorne Creek (a Tinkers Creek tributary) which is next to the Cannon Road underpass.

10 cars jump tracks in train derailment in Amherst 

https://www.cleveland.com/metro/2020/12/10-cars-jump-tracks-in-train-derailment-in-amherst.html

 

 

By Cliff Pinckard, cleveland.com

AMHERST, Ohio — A train traveling to Binghamton, New York, derailed Tuesday afternoon, sending 10 cars off the tracks.

Rachel Bradshaw, a spokeswoman with Norfolk Southern Corp., said in an email the mixed-freight train, which had started its trip in Elkhart, Indiana, derailed at about 1 p.m. near Middle Ridge Road. The train was not hauling any hazardous materials, Bradshaw said.

 

 

 

This came up in a discussion about the Brown's First Energy stadium, and whether Cleveland could build over the railroad tracks separating downtown from the waterfront.

  

On 11/13/2019 at 8:29 PM, KJP said:

 

 Because only passenger trains go underneath the Hudson Yards. More than 70 freight trains per day, some carrying large quantities of inhalable toxic materials, travel the Norfolk Southern tracks through downtown Cleveland.  The railroads, who own their rights of way and the air rights above them, would prefer not to have newly built structures covering long stretches of their rights of way. I am very curious as to how Chicago's McCormick Place got Canadian National's approval.

 

On 11/14/2019 at 2:25 PM, KJP said:

 

Good luck with that. Eminent domain doesn't mean taking property. It means acquiring private property for public good when no other reasonable alternative exists, then paying them fair value for their property. You cannot move a railroad out of the way without first providing them with an alternative right of way that is no more impactful to the natural and built environments at their proposed locations vs. their current location.

 

(my highlighting).  This reminds me of KJP's plan several years ago to divert freight traffic south of Cleveland (hazardous materials shouldn't be passing so close to our downtown anyway!)  If that were to happen, passenger trains could still use that lakefront right of way and Cleveland could build over the tracks -- there is some significant potential there.  Enough value in that to pay the freight companies to divert hazardous traffic to another company's line?  Is there any way to force hazardous materials away from downtown?

10 minutes ago, Foraker said:

This came up in a discussion about the Brown's First Energy stadium, and whether Cleveland could build over the railroad tracks separating downtown from the waterfront.

  

 

 

(my highlighting).  This reminds me of KJP's plan several years ago to divert freight traffic south of Cleveland (hazardous materials shouldn't be passing so close to our downtown anyway!)  If that were to happen, passenger trains could still use that lakefront right of way and Cleveland could build over the tracks -- there is some significant potential there.  Enough value in that to pay the freight companies to divert hazardous traffic to another company's line?  Is there any way to force hazardous materials away from downtown?

 

No top officials in Cleveland seem to be interested in this. Any "forcing" would have to be done at the federal level since the freight is predominantly interstate in nature.

22 minutes ago, KJP said:

 

No top officials in Cleveland seem to be interested in this. Any "forcing" would have to be done at the federal level since the freight is predominantly interstate in nature.

Didn't you have a bypass plan that NS was mildly interested in several years back?  I know NS would never pay for it, but your plan was workable.

18 minutes ago, gildone said:

Didn't you have a bypass plan that NS was mildly interested in several years back?  I know NS would never pay for it, but your plan was workable.

 

Yes, they liked the idea of being able to switch out cars from freight trains at both ends of Rockport Yard, along and north of I-480 by the airport. Right now, that's done mostly from the mainline at the west end of the yard which makes rail traffic on the mainline less fluid.

I recently watched a video on why we should nationalize the railways and reform Conrail. The main benefit would be in cases like this, conrail could lease the lake front track to only Amtrak and all freight traffic would have to take a different route. From what I understand the current tax structure disincentives class I railroads from making big improvements, which again could be fixed by nationalization. Nationalization is not likely anytime soon, but I think it's a pretty good idea. I'm interested about what people here think, I'm not that knowledgeable about how freight railroads work. 

1 hour ago, Henryefry said:

I recently watched a video on why we should nationalize the railways and reform Conrail. The main benefit would be in cases like this, conrail could lease the lake front track to only Amtrak and all freight traffic would have to take a different route. From what I understand the current tax structure disincentives class I railroads from making big improvements, which again could be fixed by nationalization. Nationalization is not likely anytime soon, but I think it's a pretty good idea. I'm interested about what people here think, I'm not that knowledgeable about how freight railroads work. 

I'm sure Amtrak wouldn't want to have any additional costs with regard the lakefront track.  They have been foisting NEC costs off onto the national network for so long that they wholeheartedly believe their bogus route cost accounting numbers about the long distance trains.  I can't see them wanting to take on any additional track maintenance responsibility outside the NEC.  The 10 miles of track they own just west of Albany for the Lake Shore Limited to connect to the CSX line into Boston isn't maintained very well.  They wanted to kill the Southwest Chief so they wouldn't have to maintain the Raton Pass line that BNSF no longer needs, even though they would have only had to pay a small portion of the costs.

 

Either we force Amtrak's hand on their route cost accounting or we need to split the company in two, with an NEC company that gets Amtrak's current management and a company with new management to take on the rest of the system. 

 

2 hours ago, Henryefry said:

I recently watched a video on why we should nationalize the railways and reform Conrail. The main benefit would be in cases like this, conrail could lease the lake front track to only Amtrak and all freight traffic would have to take a different route. From what I understand the current tax structure disincentives class I railroads from making big improvements, which again could be fixed by nationalization. Nationalization is not likely anytime soon, but I think it's a pretty good idea. I'm interested about what people here think, I'm not that knowledgeable about how freight railroads work. 

 

I like where you're going with this.  Nationalize the routes, nationalize the maintenance, lease operating rights.  That should appeal to conservatives who want to level the playing field vs other modes of interstate transport, and if the operating licenses are priced right maybe they could cover most of the maintenance cost.  Surely at least as much as the federal gas tax covers the cost of highway maintenance....

CANADIAN PACIFIC AND KANSAS CITY SOUTHERN AGREE TO COMBINE TO CREATE THE FIRST U.S.-MEXICO-CANADA RAIL NETWORK

https://futureforfreight.com/investors/press-release/

 

The combined network’s new single-line offerings will deliver dramatically expanded market reach for customers served by CP and KCS, provide new competitive transportation service options, and support North American economic growth. The transaction is also expected to create jobs across the combined network. Additionally, efficiency and service improvements are expected to achieve meaningful environmental benefits. 

While remaining the smallest of six U.S. Class 1 railroads by revenue, the combined company will be a much larger and more competitive network, operating approximately 20,000 miles of rail, employing close to 20,000 people and generating total revenues of approximately $8.7 billion based on 2020 actual revenues.  

 

 

will it be a US or a Canadian company?  Does it matter in terms of regulators/approvals?  For example, you could never have an airline that is US-Canadian.

7 minutes ago, Pugu said:

will it be a US or a Canadian company?  Does it matter in terms of regulators/approvals?  For example, you could never have an airline that is US-Canadian.

First sentence of the article: “CALGARY and KANSAS CITY, Mo. – March 21, 2021 – Canadian Pacific Railway Limited (TSX: CP, NYSE: CP) (“CP”) and Kansas City Southern (NYSE: KSU) (“KCS”) today announced they have entered into a merger agreement, under which CP has agreed to acquire KCS in a stock and cash transaction representing an enterprise value of approximately USD$29 billion1, which includes the assumption of $3.8 billion of outstanding KCS debt.” 
Sounds like it will technically be a Canadian company. 

^Thanks. I couldn't read the site because of the rude in-your-face blockup that appears. I guess the site is Canadian and they're controlling the information here. Bad news for the workers of the Kansas City Southern. Canadian greed--though rarely discussed--is ruthless.  Any of the back office jobs KCS had, if not eliminated, will be sent to India.... The block up to the webpage is the tip of the iceberg....