This just in:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/23/us-genessewyoming-railamerica-idUSBRE86M0EF20120723
http://news.yahoo.com/genesee-wyoming-pay-1-39b-railamerica-115358867--finance.html?_esi=1
This is really good news. G&W is one of the best managed transportation companies going. No doubt they will breathe life back into some of the regional lines that have floundered over the last decade.
Will they Merge CORP into PNWR?
Or will they divest of it?
Tiger IV grants were awarded to reopen Siskiyous pass, but CORP has, to my understanding withered with the shutdown and the economy.
That's the one that I'm most curious about anyway. It's the only location I'm aware of where a RailAmerica Property and a G&W property directly interchange.
One question is, will they merge all the shortline railroads that cris-cross in Indiana and Kentucky into one big railroad....
ALSO
Does the transaction include partner company Florida East coast?
If they do combine lines they now will own the former Pennsylvania line from Pittsburgh to Chicago, now divided between the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern (Rail America) and Ohio Central (G&W). Interesting, the CFW&E will probably get any traffic from all G&W lines in the East going to Chicago, it may see a lot more trains.
(Actually, it looks as though the only connection between Ohio Central and the CFW&E will be via the Indiana and Ohio (RailAmerica) line, mostly the old DT&I).
Not quite. The PRR they own out of Columbus is the old Panhandle line that runs toward Pittsburgh and the line out of Chicago runs via Fort Wayne to Crestline. Two separate lines that don't connect. Also, the line out of Columbus doesn't go all the way to Pittsburgh anymore, I believe.
DwightBranch If they do combine lines they now will own the former Pennsylvania line from Pittsburgh to Chicago, now divided between the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern (Rail America) and Ohio Central (G&W). Interesting, the CFW&E will probably get any traffic from all G&W lines in the East going to Chicago, it may see a lot more trains. (Actually, it looks as though the only connection between Ohio Central and the CFW&E will be via the Indiana and Ohio (RailAmerica) line, mostly the old DT&I).
The CF&E is not owned by Rail America, it is leased. Part of the lease agreement includes some large paper barriers that would prevent the moves you are proposing to have much, if any, profit. It has been described as the lease from hell.
An "expensive model collector"
Yes, the lease, which I didn't even consider, severely restricts the CF&E, the traffic they can handle overhead, and also restricts the number of trains that NS can run across the line via trackage rights that NS holds. It's long been rumored that a connection between NS and the CF&E is going to be built at Bucyrus to reroute the traffic running out of Chicago to the Heartland Corridor, bypassing choke points at Fostoria and Bellevue.
The old PRR line east of Columbus has been abandoned, I believe, from Mingo Junction, OH, to the Pittsburgh area.
The CF&E is a vastly under utilized property. Owned by CSX and leased to CF&E there are severe limits on overhead traffic. A few years ago the line was in horrible shape with something like 30 slow orders from County (Hobart) to Ft Wayne after an FRA inspection. Trains literally crawled across the line at 10mph in places.
NS entered into an agreement with CF&E to fund some ballast and work on the line and in return started running a couple of trains daily. Then the Great Recession hit and trains were eliminated and the capacity issues were not quite as severe.
Train counts have crept back up on the NS and at some point the CF&E will become an important link for them. Noticed yesterday that ballast had been dropped here in Valpo on the line.
Ed
YoHo1975 That's the one that I'm most curious about anyway. It's the only location I'm aware of where a RailAmerica Property and a G&W property directly interchange.
RailAmerica's Toledo Peoria & Western interchanges directly with Genesee & Wyoming's Tazewell & Peoria RR at East Peoria.
On a related note, I wonder if G&W will keep the historic TP&W name or change it to something like "Peoria & Indiana?"
My dad Grew up in Fairbury Il and TP&W always interested him even though he was not a railfan. So I hope they don't change it.
YoHo1975 My dad Grew up in Fairbury Il and TP&W always interested him even though he was not a railfan. So I hope they don't change it.
That's funny, I grew up about 30 miles from there on the ATSF Transcon and my neighbor had relatives in Fairbury, one was named Warnie Strauch, it is an area with a lot of Mennonites and even those who aren't are socially awkward, very much Rated G. I spent a summer when I was in college as a foreman de-tasseling corn in El Paso and a lot of the crew were kids from over there, Gridley etc., and even the HS kids acted like 10 year olds.
I actually think that it will be good for TP&W (and other short lines) if RailAmerica goes away, they tried to sell the west end of the line, from Peoria to Lomax, to a scrapper so as not to compete with their own trackage rights on BNSF, the STB caught on and was not amused:
We take seriously the Congressional directive that we facilitate entry into the rail business, see, e.g., 49 U.S.C. 10101(7), and for that reason we do not revoke exemptions lightly. But the main purpose of the entry provisions of the statute is to promote the availability of rail service. Here, it is clear to us that the actions taken by Respondents reflect instead a scheme to use our processes to obtain active rail assets with a view toward dismantling and selling them. Therefore, we are revoking the exemptions that permitted this scheme to proceed.
DwightBranch I actually think that it will be good for TP&W (and other short lines) if RailAmerica goes away, they tried to sell the west end of the line, from Peoria to Lomax, to a scrapper so as not to compete with their own trackage rights on BNSF, the STB caught on and was not amused:
Actually, TP&W wasn't trying to close that line because it was competing with its BNSF trackage rights (regardless how the STB understands it).
Shortly after RailAmerica's purchase, rehabilitation funds were sought from the State of Illinois but rejected. So negotations began with the Keokuk Junction Railway on a possible sale of the West End (at least west of Mapleton). When that fell through (KJRY balked at TP&W's price), TP&W made a deal with BNSF to shift Fort Madison interchange (mostly intermodal) to Galesburg.
TP&W had gained trackage rights on BN's Galesburg-Peoria line in a 1995 deal to keep it out of the BNSF merger case. But BN/SF remained in control of pricing to and from Peoria since TP&W merely acted as "haulage agent." TP&W received a flat per car rate rather than a negotiated rate division.
Intermodal business was shifted to the Galesburg interchange February 19, 2001. For this traffic, TP&W received a rate division. Reportedly, BNSF never changed the Fort Madison rate! Traffic was combined with TP&W's "Galesburg Job."
This shift required TP&W to seek overhead trackage rights on P&PU between P&PU Jct. in East Peoria and the BNSF connection at S. Darst St. in Peoria. P&PU agreed but restricted movements to intermodal (in exchange for lower fees to use P&PU trackage, TP&W had given up in 1995 long dormant rights to interchange with BN directly at Peoria).
Westbound, TP&W combined its intermodal and BNSF haulage traffic at Peoria. Eastbound, traffic was split at Peoria with separate movements to interchange with P&PU and deliver intermodal traffic to the TP&W's East Peoria Yard.
Following the diversion of the intermodal traffic off the West End, TP&W continued to operate a bi-weekly "La Harpe Turn" to continue service to on-line customers and also work the KJRY connection. By December, A & K Railroad Materials subsidiary SF&L Railway took over operations.
Perhaps by design, SF&L was doomed from the start. A paper barrier at La Harpe required SF&L to "interchange" with KJRY via TP&W. On the other end, all Peoria-area interchange had to go via TP&W. Artificial costs caused rates to skyrocket. Then KJRY acquired TP&W's LaHarpe-Lomax route so it could interchange with UP at Fort Madison (with BNSF providing that carrier with haulage service to either Chicago or Kansas City).
Most remaining traffic was diverted (the only regular overhead business still handled in any volume was Decatur-bound corn germ for the NS at East Peoria; this shifted to BNSF west of Peoria in February 2002). SF&L attempted to find business, but mostly couldn't handle it (rock for the Roseville Bypass, etc.). SF&L decided to embargo the Mapleton-La Harpe line in October 2002 and file for abandonment.
To make a long story short, TP&W was forced to re-acquire this line before being forced by the STB to sell it to the KJRY in February 2005. The debacle was costly to RailAmerica and also vain: BNSF ended its intermodal deal with TP&W in late January 2004 and finally kicked the shortline off the Galesburg-Peoria line in June 2011. The motivation to close the West End seemed to have been merely a quick profit from scrapping the line and selling the real estate to trail interests.
KJRY has proven that the West End is a viable shortline, handling some 3,000+ carloads a year in overhead business and probably 3,000+ carloads of grain from on-line elevators.
Genesee & Wyoming seems to have a better reputation with customers. The Tazewell & Peoria RR, for instance, has gotten busier with not only local business but also intermediate business since leasing the P&PU in 2004.
bn13814 Actually, TP&W wasn't trying to close that line because it was competing with its BNSF trackage rights (regardless how the STB understands it).
The STB understands it fine, what you say about the BNSF merger may be true but isn't the whole story. Most of the traffic TPW handles via the BNSF is (or was at the time) imported auto parts in containers for the Diamond Star (Mitsubishi) plant in Normal that TPW interchanges with NS. RailAmerica was afraid that Pioneer RailCorp (KJ) would be able to work out an agreement with BNSF to completely bypass RailAmerica for this traffic. On top of that the track on the west end was in horrible shape, unable to handle container trains except at slow speeds, and RailAmerica didn't want to pay to fix it up. The solution was to seek trackage rights and scrap the rail, and who cares about the customers on the line.
The STB understands it fine, what you say about the BNSF merger may be true but isn't the whole story. Most of the traffic TPW handles via the BNSF is (or was at the time) imported auto parts in containers for the Diamond Star (Mitsubishi) plant in Normal that TPW interchanges with NS. RailAmerica was afraid that Pioneer RailCorp (KJ) would be able to work out an agreement with BNSF to completely bypass RailAmerica for this traffic. On top of that the track on the west end was in horrible shape, unable to handle container trains except at slow speeds, and RailAmerica didn't want to pay to fix it up.
There is no truth to that. Such a scenario is contradictory anyway.
BNSF had a partnership with TP&W to market intermodal traffic through East Peoria, Ill. and Remington, Ind. terminals. When Logistics Park opened in August 2002, this partnership was on its last legs. Union Pacific's Global III, which opened a year later, didn't help either. The Remington, Ind. facility closed in October 2003 and the BNSF-TP&W intermodal partnership ended in January 2004.
KJRY would never have been able to convince BNSF to give them this business. For one thing, KJRY lacked facilities to load and unload containers (P&PU had shut down its facility in early 2000).
Through careful research and shipper support, KJRY convinced the STB that TP&W (and SF&L before it) had failed in their common carrier duties and so the sale was reversed. By early 2004, TP&W began backtracking on a desire to abandon or sell the line because of a not-yet-public plan by AmerenCILCO to "build out" from its Duck Creek Station to the TP&W at Rawalts (just east of Canton), thus giving the railroad lucrative access to a coal-fired power plant.
The STB ruled based on information given to it by the parties to this case. SF&L was less-than-truthful and TP&W (or RailAmerica down in Boca Raton) was sloppy. By early 2002, the only regular overhead business was that eastbound corn germ traffic, about 900 carloads a year. That shifted to a BNSF-(Peoria)-NS routing in February 2002. By the time KJRY took possession of the West End, there was no intermodal business left.
The solution was to seek trackage rights and scrap the rail, and who cares about the customers on the line.
Attitudes like that is why TP&W has mostly floundered all these years since re-birth.
bn13814 There is no truth to that. Such a scenario is contradictory anyway. BNSF had a partnership with TP&W to market intermodal traffic through East Peoria, Ill. and Remington, Ind. terminals. When Logistics Park opened in August 2002, this partnership was on its last legs. Union Pacific's Global III, which opened a year later, didn't help either. The Remington, Ind. facility closed in October 2003 and the BNSF-TP&W intermodal partnership ended in January 2004.
No, you are confusing two issues, the cars went to Normal over the ex-NKP line and were unloaded at the DSM plant in Normal. When that plant opened in 1986 TPW was still part of the Santa Fe, that is how they got the traffic from the west coast. I was a student at ISU in Normal until1992, I saw the stack cars in the yard out west of town.
DSM opened in late 1988 and containers received via the West Coast/ATSF were unloaded at East Peoria then driven down I-74 the remaining 35 miles. The stack cars you saw was Caterpillar-related business handled by NW/NS between P&PU's East Peoria Yard (Creve Coeur, actually) and Norfolk, Va.
So what is the bottom line; how much money? Is fortress going to use these proceeds for leveraging more funds to upgrade the FEC track?
Here's a report by G&W I found, click on the PDF for details on the proposal, including a map of the combined operation.
A small clarification on the abandonment of the PRR line between Pittsburgh and Mingo Junction. The line is still active from Mingo Junction to Weirton WV to service the Weirton Steel plant. Also the line running from Weirton to Newell along the Ohio River is still in service. The former PRR main line is abandoned from Weirton to near Pittsburgh. Unfortunately I do not know the exact point of the abandonment near Pittsburgh.
Although I now live in Texas I am from Follansbee WV and very familiar with the Weirton/Steubenville Ohio area. It is a shame that the beautiful double track bridge across the Ohio has been single tracked.
The "Panhandle" (former PRR/PC Pittsburgh - St Louis line via Columbus Oh) ends within the Pittsburgh city limits. It is now part of a double stack bypass. A branch continues 2 or 3 more miles along the Ohio River, then crosses the river via Brunot Island to connect with the former PRR Pittsburgh-Chicago line (the "Fort Wayne"). This line is overwhelmingly intermodal traffic with lots of double stacks. The former Panhandle no longer connects with the Ft Wayne and the former PRR proper (former PRR east of Pittsburgh) at Union (PRR) station (still the Amtrak station, but not the grand old structure, that is now condos, Amtrak just has an AmShack between the condo building and the train shed ). The last half mile of the Panhandle into Union Station is gone from the Southside (Panhandle Bridge) to Union Station.
The Panhandle bridge crossing the Mon (Monongahela River) is now part of Pittsburgh's light rail system. Their Mon crossing was moved from the shared-with-roadway Smithfield Street Bridge to the Panhandle Bridge back in the 80's when they were converting the remainder of the old Pittsburgh Railways (broad gauge) now PAT (Port Authority Transit) trolley system to Siemens light rail cars. The east end of the Panhandle runs from the Panhandle bridge to the approximate location the the Corliss (roadway) tunnels, about 4 or 5 miles west of downtown. I've told you what connects on the west end, the Ohio River bridge to the Chicago line (this connection dates from old PRR days).
At the east end, there is also a connection with a line from old PRR days, this is PRR/PC/CR/NS's Mon River line. PRR was famous for having lots of alternate routes and this is one of them. Just outside of Pittsburgh on the southeast side, along the Mon, there is the famous Port Perry complex of rail lines. PRR/PC/CR/NS has a bridge across the Mon right next to the bridge of US Steel's Union railroad, which connects the three remaining Pittsburgh district mills of USS. After crossing the Port Perry bridge, it's only a hop, skip and a jump to the PRR proper, right next to USS's Edgar Thompson works in Braddock. What that gives us is two ways to get from the PRR proper to the massive Conway yard which is on the Fort Wayne line about ten miles down the Ohio River from the Ohio River Bridge described above.
When they were increasing clearances for double stacks a few decades ago (Conrail with help from the state of PA), they had two choices to get from the Ohio River Bridge to the vicinity of ET (Edgar Thompson) and the planners picked the line using the remains of the Panhandle, the Mon line and the Port Perry bypass. So that's what the east end of the Panhandle is, part of a bypass for double stack traffic.
ccltrains Although I now live in Texas I am from Follansbee WV and very familiar with the Weirton/Steubenville Ohio area. It is a shame that the beautiful double track bridge across the Ohio has been single tracked.
Double track bridges can always be double track again if the need arises. Single track bridges, not so much,
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Agree that laying another track on a double track bridge would be easy, but it will never happen here. The PRR line has been abandoned between Weirton and Pittsburgh and the current traffic on the WV side of the bridge will not support double tracking. The PRR line south of Weirton to Benwood Junction (south Wheeling) has been abandoned south of Wellsburg. The steel industry that was the main traffic generator in this area has suffered many cutbacks and the business of yesteryear is no longer there.
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