Pan Am Southern / Patriot Corridor Discussion

As good as the news is, at least part of the cause is probably from some current Cs changing sides of the cab as Es leave service. There most likely won't be a net gain of 28 in the short term. That posted, anything that reduces crew-checkers is good.

Wow, look at the slew of James Riffen and misc made-up companies still sending documents to the STB. The sooner they bar persons with no interest from participating the better.

newpylong wrote:Wow, look at the slew of James Riffen and misc made-up companies still sending documents to the STB. The sooner they bar persons with no interest from participating the better.

11 filings in 1 day. Most of them look like document requests, though, so no clue what new "nuh-uh, no fair!" nuisance angle he's pursuing now. Other than if he's requesting documents it means there's going to be more filings yet to come.

FRA did a number on the west end yesterday. All of these are 10's...

Passing CPF 385
CPF 385 & MP 386
MP 390 & MP 391
MP 398 & MP 399
MP 408 & MP 409
MP 411 & MP 415
CPF 415 & CPF 421
CPF 423 & MP 423
MP 428 & MP 429
MP 442 & MP 433
MP 452 & MP 454
MP 463 & MP 464

atholrail wrote:FRA did a number on the west end yesterday. All of these are 10's...

Passing CPF 385
CPF 385 & MP 386
MP 390 & MP 391
MP 398 & MP 399
MP 408 & MP 409
MP 411 & MP 415
CPF 415 & CPF 421
CPF 423 & MP 423
MP 428 & MP 429
MP 442 & MP 433
MP 452 & MP 454
MP 463 & MP 464

Lovely. Almost 30 more miles of going backwards on state-of-repair. Do they realize that the state grants for the Patriot Corridor upgrades require them to maintain Class 2 track?

I hope this is just a dare for fed up NS to say "@#$% it, we're doing this ourselves" and get the cavalry sent from out-of-state to fix this before next winter begats a new system-wide meltdown. What good is that much newly-installed NS rail on the same garbage B&M-era ties? Division of upgrade labor clearly isn't working. Maybe that's intentional.

What state grants for the Patriot Corridor?

Add another 10 mph speed restriction to the list - while passing Bridge MP 435.44 (this one's been there a while though)

Nearly $100M later the "Patriot Corridor" is slower than it was pre-Pan Am Southern. I bet NS wants a mulligan. It is mind boggling that they have not executed any between the lines takeover strategy by now. This outfit is incompetent and refuses to spend any of their own money. They've now had over 30 years to get it right. The sooner they leave the railroad scene in New England the better off rail transportation will be.

/rant

Newpy said:

The sooner they leave the railroad scene in New England the better off rail transportation will be.

+1. Management should be arrested for impersonating railroaders.

http://www.stb.dot.gov/decisions/readin ... /44548.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

STB's gearing up to address closing the "Riffin" loophole of time-waster nuisance filings, at NS's request: http://www.stb.dot.gov/filings/all.nsf/ ... 238469.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.


Riffin's lifetime filing count is now 96 strong (that would be +16 filings in the 2 weeks since NS filed its petition about Riffin's filings).

Pan Am's anthem should be "I'm Still Here" — sung as only the late great Elaine Stritch could.

atholrail wrote:FRA did a number on the west end yesterday. All of these are 10's...

Passing CPF 385
CPF 385 & MP 386
MP 390 & MP 391
MP 398 & MP 399
MP 408 & MP 409
MP 411 & MP 415
CPF 415 & CPF 421
CPF 423 & MP 423
MP 428 & MP 429
MP 442 & MP 433
MP 452 & MP 454
MP 463 & MP 464

Looks like the inspection is confined to points west of Deerfield, will they inspect to Fitchburg also?

They worked east out of Deerfield today...

Chased this 14T east from Erving to Royalston today...

atholrail wrote:They worked east out of Deerfield today...

Be interesting to see how the eastern end of PAS will fair? Wonder if NS ever reads this board?

Todays 14T took the slow track CPF 381 to CPF 370, otherwise track speed to Royalston. Unsure east of there though. Do know the FRA took a bit of time in Gardner.

Trust me when I tell you that I feel all of your frustrations. But this has been the known reality for many years... Just look at what the GRS did to the D&H... With NS finally coming in to save the day on the D&H Southend, things are going to start changing in the NEUS rail scene.

There was just an NS/CP rules class in Binghamton and there was lots of talks of NS starting the process of making Binghamton a "Gateway Terminal" for the NEUS and Eastern Canada. This of course will entail the takeover of PAS (within 3-5 years if not much less), its inevitable at this point. With the missing link of the D&H Southend just 8 weeks away from being under NS control and ownership, the NS NEUS "plan" is starting to roll out. Give it 3-5 years and they will be going toe to toe with CSXT for any and all business into New England. Time to chip away at the monopoly CSXT (and previously Conrail) has enjoyed for decades in New England and get some real competition up there. The D&H Southend and PAS is the major artery in doing so. I would also not be surprised to see some partnerships with Canadian National and likely some of the New England shortlines as well (NECR, P&W, VRS, etc.). We have already seen some of this with the P&W Auto and Ethanol Traffic and soon to be Salt Contract as well. I would fully expect these types of agreements/partnerships to prosper and expand in the coming years, its one of NS's key business aspects.

The grumblings I have heard also call for some expansion of Mechanicville Intermodal and a MAJOR expansion/rebuild of Ayer Intermodal (much needed) as well. They are going to need extensive capacity in order to effectively compete.

Time will tell, but things are getting very interesting and promising! Buckle up and hang on, its going to be a wild ride the next 5 years or so!

Jim Cerulli