HBLR Freight Questions

I guess this goes here, but if mods think this fits better in the NJ forum, please move it!
When the HBLR was constructed on the ex-River Line, were there any frieght customers left on the line, and, if so, what happened to them?
Thanks!

According to STB dockets I have read, at the time Conrail/CSX/NS filed petitions to discontinue service in November, 2000, two shippers were given as being served: Dykes Lumber in Weehawken and Cognis Chemical in Hoboken. Dykes Lumber, located at Park Ave and 19th St in Weehawken is still around today but isn't a freight rail customer; however, acording to aerial photos from 2002, they still had service. Service would have ended by 2004 when the HBLR was extended along this stretch of the ROW. Cognis Chemical, located between 12th and 13th Sts and Adams and Madison Aves in Hoboken, was served by a siding from the north parallel to and crossing Madison Avenue, some remnants of which are still visible today. As with Dykes, Cognis still had its siding in 2002 but would have lost it by 2004 with HBLR construction. By 2006, the Cognis plant was demolished and only concrete foundations in a contaminated brownfield remained. Cognis was acquired by BASF in 2010 and their Hoboken property has been targeted by the local government for acquisition, remediation, and possible conversion for use as public recreation space and as a site for underground stormwater storage tanks for local storm resilience.

Very interesting, thank you!
How did NJT get around creating a legal mess when they did that? Did they get CR to price them out?
Again, thanks a million!

Probably agreed to subsidize the additional cost of transloading or, in the case of the chemical company, agreed to being less punitive in regards to cleanup fines and costs when they closed up shop. It would probably much cheaper to do it that way than the millions in fees if the industries had chosen to fight...and G-d only knows how much more it would have cost to implement temporal segregation of traffic.

I know some folks at the lumber company and will see if they have a definitive answer. Too bad the FRA/FTA makes it so hard to have light rail and freight rail comingle. It's a shame to put trucks on the road when common sense could have a loco and the center beams or boxcars in and out of the industry in the middle of the night (3am when light rail is either severely reduces or not operating) with no problem.

Though I would imagine the remaining customers on the Northern Branch will be gone by the time the light rail is finally built up that way, but if they are not I wonder how that situation will be handled.

rr503 wrote:Very interesting, thank you!
How did NJT get around creating a legal mess when they did that? Did they get CR to price them out?
Again, thanks a million!

Prior to abandonment petitions in 2000, Conrail issued Notices of Insufficient Revenues in 1983 and 1985, an indicator that the line was not financially viable and a precursor to abandonment. In 1989, Conrail and NJT signed the Freight Relocation and River Line Acquisition Agreement, which transferred much of the River Line to NJT ownership by 1995 with Conrail providing freight service on a free easement.

Interesting...
The Weehawken Branch/River Line combo was CRs route out of the NJTA to the north, and until the reconfig of Marion jct. sometime in the late 80s/early 90s, the only option for doing so. I wonder what kind of accounting they used to make it have insufficent revenue.

As for the Northern Branch, it's already down to 1 customer (oil co. in Englewood), and I'm counting the days until CSX prices them out. I really wish it could be sold to the NYSW, they could actually run freight on that thing.

OK, one more question, then I'll let this thread die
Which federal law is the one that dictates that a carrier taking over a line has to provide service on it unless an exemption is granted? I can't seem to find it.
Thanks a million!!!!