MMA To File 241 Mile Abandonment With STB

We can sit here and go back and forth all we want but the simple fact is that a lot of this is out of our hands. At a million dollars a mile for paving, sometimes several million a mile if grinding and reprocessing is done, we are rapidly outstripping our ability to pay for even basic maintenance on our highway system. Maine is proposing a 99 million dollar jobs bond. 99 million, at the above prices, is a drop in the bucket. And besides if we have to borrow money to make even routine maintenance on our existing roads. all we have to do is sit back and wait for the end, which is inevitable.

Some parts of the nation folks are waking up. It is sad that we cannot apply that to our own area. I have loaded lots of 4 ft pulpwood on rail cars in Maine in my youth. And no better method of transporting it has been devised. Every ton of wood on the tracks is a ton less on the road with all the saving of wear and tear.


This is a no-brainer to many people. Put the money where it does the most good. What in the world is wrong with that philosophy?

SRM

This article appeared in today's St. John, N.B. Telegraph Journal.

http://nbbusinessjournal.canadaeast.com ... cle/972650

Lots of mixing of issues with these posts: short-haul vs. long-haul, intrastate vs. interstate. That article out of Virginia has to do with long-haul traffic and states' desire to maintain their ports' competitive advantage for a growing flow of international traffic and is interstate in nature, with a demand derived by the economics of ocean shipping and population consumption. The pulpwood traffic is short-haul and intrastate in nature (even if it's heavy). I just don't think, even with lowering truck weights, that any railroad can make a sustained profit that would justify capital replacement costs for the equipment for short-haul pulpwood (or chips for that matter). Yeah, if you already have the cars sitting idle or can purchase second-hand cars, or, if you simply look at the revenue for cash-flow purposes or on a marginal basis. But, you'd have to tear up the highways to make such short-haul business economically justifiable on a replacement cost basis, and then the end result would be higher costs for shipping that product, even compared to highway user fees that paid 100% of the cost of using the highway network. I think you can make the same case for the potatoe traffic: it began in a regulated environment, probably provided cash flow, and as long as the reefers didn't need replacing, could justify the marginal (additional variable) revenue vs. marginal (additional variable) cost. But, once those cars met the end of their useful life, I just don't see how a for-profit deregulated business would ever justify the cost of buying new cars, not for short-haul traffic from Maine to the Northeastern Corridor markets and, no doubt, with seasonality thrown in.

I think you'd have to lower truck weight and size limits to such a degree in order to make these short-haul (and in the case of potatoes, requiring special handling) moves economically justified and returning competitive returns-on-investment over the long run in today's for-profit business world that you might as well rip up the roads. But then you'd probably be weakening or destroying the competitive advantages of those industries and, in turn, the entire economy.

Making trucks "pay their fair share" or figuring out a way to bolster Maine's rail industry and solve the issues arising from the MMA abandonment threat are good goals...but, it's doubtful you'd see a wholesale change over the long-run with the way pulpwood or Maine potatoes move if those goals are met.

Nicely stated.

The root of the problem here in Maine is the terrible business climate that has developed over the past four plus decades. Purchasing these rail lines is all well and good, but without any industries thriving here, it will be more of the same. I support preserving these lines -- I just wish our political leaders and bureaucratic minions would end the hostility towards traditional industries and commercial activities. As a small business owner, I have to go outside of the State to find enough work. As a part-time railroad employee, I see from the inside what the railroads struggle against here. My family has been here since the 1720's. One of my kids has left the State, and I worry the second is soon to go too. I wonder if I can hang on...

Gubernatorial candidate Matt Jacobson, who is also the former president of the St. Lawrence & Atlantic, recently criticized the state's plan to buy the abandoned portions of the MMA. I thought it was somewhat hypocritical, considering that the SLR accepted plenty of state money during the time that Mr. Jacobson was running it.

If and when the state takes over the MM&A lines in question,
the towns along the route will no longer get property taxes for
that property. I would not be surprised to see some local or
state officials try to make an issue of this at some point,
especially towns where there are no businesses using rail.

Mr. Jacobson has probably decided to take a position
against any state financial involvement in all railroad
operations, lest his opponents accuse him of conflict
of interest. Should he be elected, and he continued
this position, this would be an ominous situation for
both freight and passenger rail operations in Maine.

Dick

<double post, please delete>

Now they're talking about trying to get federal help to save the lines in question:

Maine’s congressional delegation is pushing the federal government to save 233 miles of railroad tracks from a proposed abandonment that they say would wreck the state’s economy.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has agreed to work with her and others to keep the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway line operating.

Read the rest at: http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/138333.html

Well, that was just a matter of time...

Not true! There has been an active, concerted effort to exactly this in Switzerland since the 1990's

MWhite, in this situation you're quite correct. In the majority of Europe, interest in driving more business to rail has increased, but it certainly isn't anywhere near the importance or level in the US. My take on Switzerland's policy: the country is unique based on the fact that, by way of geography, it's largely an in-transit country that ends up handling freight between neighboring countries with little benefit... sort of like the NH Turnpike between Maine and the rest of the country. So Switzerland and the EU came up with a compromise: Increase truck weight limits and tax the snot out of those heavy trucks to entice the in-transit trucks to rail. A telling note from the article you linked: "...a sharp contrast to France and Austria, where the bulk of goods were transported by road."

Also telling is the pic they have of the train. The train carries tractors (power units) and (presumably) drivers... this is an indication of the lack of integration in European intermodal network.

Very correct on the assessment of Switzerland-- I was there less than a year ago. I rode the passenger network, which is a very nice system. I, of course, was seeking to photograph freight trains. On a weekend, hardly an ounce of in-country freight is found to be moving. Along the mainlines I rode, there were scant few freight customers. However, once I arrived in the northern portion of the country, the mainlines were quite busy with freights-- none of them bound for Switzerland, only transitting the country on journeys between Germany, France, and Italy. I did indeed see the "truckie train" which handles the tractor trailers, AND drivers. If you look up photos of this train, you'll notice a passenger car behind the locomotive that is a dormitory for the drivers while they are railed through Switzerland. Interesting concept, indeed. I wonder how many US truckers would sign on for that ride...

To wheel this back to MMA-related discussion, I made a trip to the MMA last week. Regardless of an impending abandonment, there were plenty of trains to be found. Squa Pan local 120 is running 6 days a week, alternating between runs to Lumber Alley south of Portage and the Presque Isle/Caribou/Easton branches. All three days I was on the system (Thu-Sat) traffic moved between Millinocket and Oakfield. Funny thing is, the only place I got skunked on something not moving was on the Madawaska-Van Buren run, which is not up for abandonment. The scheduled Friday run, well, didn't run.

120 took 41 empties to Lumber Alley on Friday, and came back with about 40 chip loads, with MMA 21 and 23 double heading. Two ex BARs on the ex BAR...all was right with the world on a sunny day. Unfortunately, while the trains were handling a decent amount of traffic, they all go through miles of nothing to get to where they're going. Too much infrastructure for too little traffic.

When I first went to Switzerland in 97, they had just started a big push that was supposed to put over 90% of their freight on the rails. They - along with many other European countries - have a population density, and rail-centric towns/cities in many places, that allowed such dense rail to develop. We have a much more spread out geography.

I was listening to the radio today in the car, and Susan Collins was giving an interview on the radio, talking about how the rail line has to be saved, she said it has to be done at the state level but that the state could get aid from the federales to help them with it. She said it was the lifeblood of northern maine industry.

I personally don't think the state should put a penny into that route, but I am guessing it will pass just fine, bonds always do....

The Story Continues...
http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/138528.html

They say "Several" rail companies are interested in operating the line. It would be interesting if shortline operators such as G&W, RailAmerica or even R.J. Corman got the contract. While this may seem far fetched, it is possible. But the MMA did craft the abandonment to be in the middle of MMA territory either way.

I personally don't think the state should put a penny into that route

393, just curious... why not?