Trackage Rights

[Murphy Siding]

Can somebody explain trackage rights and haulage rights to me? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Yes- the Railroads want trackage rights and the Truck Drivers want haulage rights [:D]

I don't know... maybe someone else will come along and help.

[dehusman]

Trackage rights allow one railroad to operate its trains over another on specific routes for a fee. The tenant train uses its power and crews and operates its trains on the other railroad.

Haulage rights allow one railroad to market train service over another on specific routes. The primary railroad provides power and crews and operates the trains like one of their own, but the business on the train belongs to the tenent railroad.

Dave H.

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Haulage rights are analogous to airline code sharing. You buy a ticket from Las Vegas to San Juan on Southwest Airlines with a change of plane at Chicago Midway and the Midway-San Juan leg is flown by American Trans Air. Haulage rights are also a variation on interline rates with one road doing all the billing and customer contact.

[MP173]

anyone have any representative rates for trackage rights?

Is it so much per year, per train, per tonnage? All of the above?

thanks

ed

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Trackage rights are probably proprietary information between the landlord and tenant. That being said, I'm sure that the rates and methods of calculation can vary widely depending on the situation. I'm sure that the fee schedule for South Shore Line over the IC between Kensington and Randolph St. was quite different than that for BRC over the IHB between Argo and Proviso.

[MP173]

That doesnt surprize me that it is confidential info. I have never heard any info about the agreements.

What are some of the most used trackage rights in use today?

Hegewisch...you mentioned the IHB/BRC. What are other trackage rights around Chicago? Is the UP/CSX (ex Chicago Eastern Illinois) line a trackage rights situation?

I am amazed at the tangle of rail lines in Chicago and how the freight flows thru the city. How is all of that accounted for? For instance, CN runs trains 390/391 between Glenn Yard and Toronto via the IHB, instead of using their own line up the IC to St. Charles Airline and then down to Glenn. Do they have trackage rights over IHB?

There are probably a dozen or more such routings in and around Chicago that require the joint efforts of several railroads.

That would make an interesting book.

ed

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

The UP/CSX arrangement south to Woodland Junction is joint ownership.
NS uses trackage rights over IC to Gibson City, replacing most of the former WAB Chicago-Decatur line.
BRC's six owners enjoy trackage rights over BRC by virtue of their ownership. Wisconsin & Southern has trackage rights over Metra and BRC between Fox Lake and Clearing.
Iowa Interstate has rights over CSX and Metra from Bureau to Blue Island.
CSX has rights over the same Metra route between Joliet and Blue Island.
Metra's Heritage Line is a trackage rights operation over IC between Chicago and Joliet.
There are several trackage rights operations over IHB of which I have no particulars.

[nanaimo73]

There are many types of trackage rights, such as overhead or local. Some rights allow a railroad to go from "A" to "B" only or they could be rights to serve a single customer like a power plant or Auto plant. There may be dozens of ways that they are paid for. Haulage rights can include an entire train, I think this was how CP got across Michigan on CSX. There is also paired track, were two parallel lines are used as directional lines such as SP and WP did across Nevada, or CMSP&P, CRI&P, C&NW, Soo, CP, I&MRL and now ICE and UP north of Kansas City.

[MP173]

Hegewisch:

I was just thinking about the CP situation here in NW Indiana. Their Eastern Canada - Chicago traffic is coming in on trackage rights in Michigan on the CSX to Porter, In. Then the CSX has trackage rights from Porter on the NS.

Then the CP no doubt enters the IHB in East Chicago (of which they own a portion) and thus would have some sort of either trackage rights or whatever one would call it.

So, the CP trains to Chicago from Eastern Canada utilize CP tracks to CSX trackage rights to NS (trackage rights to CSX) to IHB (trackage rights) to Franklin Park B12. At that point I dont know if CP owns the line or Metra does, but one way or another it is a shared line. Finally they reach their own tracks at Bensenville Yard.

What a long strange trip it is!

I would love to know the revenue vs the expenses for all those trackage rights. You think CP makes money on those moves?

ed

[nanaimo73]

I believe CP just switched most Ontario to Chicago traffic to NS, I think that was about 4 Trains issues back. CP would not run the trains if they were not making money.

[tree68]

And just to complicate things, many traackage rights are based on agreements forged years ago by previous owners of the track. That could go back a couple of railroads in some cases.

[Murphy Siding]

Okay, so I've read all these replies, and also found a good explanation elsewhere on this website. It seems this must be an accountant's nightmare to keep track of who owes what to whom for trackage rights and haulage rights. Hoe in the they keep score?

[fuzzybroken]

There could be an entire book on trackage rights arrangements in Chicago alone!!!

The UP/CSX x-CEI trackage arrangement (joint ownership) goes back to Missouri Pacific's purchase of the CEI. They then sold the eastern leg of CEI and half-ownership of the Chicago main to the Louisville & Nashville. L&N became part of Family Lines, which became Seaboard System, which became part of CSX. MP became part of Union Pacific. (And that's a "simple" explanation as compared to some trackage rights situations!)

The north side of Milwaukee also has an interesting trackage rights arrangement. All of the lines that intersect at North Milwaukee were, prior to 1980, part of the Milwaukee Road. The Wisconsin & Southern "owns" the line that runs NW-SE, which intersects a N-S line at North Milwaukee. South of North Milwaukee, Canadian Pacific (successor to MILW successor Soo Line) owns the track. North of North Milwaukee, the line is owned by Canadian National by way of Wisconsin Central, who secured trackage rights on WSOR to reach the line. Last year, CN abandoned a chunk of their line, which WSOR acquired, and secured trackage rights on CN to reach their new piece of railroad!!!

-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

South Shore's trackage rights over IC are a development of a through car arrangement. When South Shore began operations in 1908, all trains terminated at Kensington. Beginning about 1912, certain Gary-Kensington trains carried cars which would be interchanged to IC at Kensington for the rest of the trip to Randolph Street. This grew into a through operation in which IC steam locomotives hauled South Shore trains in their entirety to Randolph Street. At the time of IC's electrification and South Shore's re-electrification in 1926, this was changed to a trackage rights operation with South Shore crews operating through to Randolph Street.