CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

"Re: CSX to acquire Pan Am Railways
#1587000 by GTIKING
Wed Dec 15, 2021 8:58 pm
500 water street is not pleased with the current uh talent at 1700.
To save on severance packages they won't fire them but kill them softly with a offer to move to Florida. The next hurdle is passsing CSXs boot camp regardless of occupation. It will be nice hearing Q trains cracking through the airwaves soon going to and from Portland"

GTKing you don't have a freaking clue what you are yapping about. Did someone pee in your Cheerios while they were wearing a Pan Am jacket??

Everyone in Billerica has met with people from Jacksonville including from HR. CSX doesn't have enough managers to cover their existing operations between Selkirk to Boston. So they aren't cutting bodies.

Parties who have said they will speak at STB's public oral hearings on January 13, 2022:

In favor:
- NHDOT: will discuss the Department’s support for this proposed transaction and the benefits to rail service in NH
- Cushman Lumber: will discuss growth opportunities from improved service, noting access to both PAS & NECR
- Law Logistics: will discuss the benefits of CSX taking over operations from Springfield Terminal Railway
- NH Central RR: will discuss the benefits of B&/G&W RR taking over operations from Springfield Terminal Railway and the partnership with Genesee & Wyoming to grow their business
- Maine DOT: will address Maine's support for the approval of the transaction, letter agreements with CSX and support from Maine's businesses, rail shippers and Passenger Rail Authority
- Boston Sand & Gravel: will discuss the importance of rail operations for BSG's supply chain, its railroad subsidiary New Hampshire North Coast, and the new opportunities made possible by CSX's takeover of operations from Springfield Terminal Railway

Other:
- MA State Sen Adam G Hinds: plans to present testimony at the public hearing scheduled for January 13, 2022.
- MWRA: will discuss The risks to Wachusett Reservoir and its watershed posed by implementation of the
transactions proposed in these dockets, and the mitigation conditions the Board should impose as necessary to protect against them.

After hearing about the leadership at Iron Horse Park, I am surprised that CSX plans on keeping them around. It would be in the railroads best interest to do a mass purge and start fresh.

In due time. Someone's gotta move the trains in the interim...

Bingo. Now I'm off for a second bowl of Cheerios.

PBMcGinnis wrote: Everyone in Billerica has met with people from Jacksonville including from HR. CSX doesn't have enough managers to cover their existing operations between Selkirk to Boston. So they aren't cutting bodies.

They may not be cutting bodies, but that doesn't mean that Jacksonville is happy with the level of talent or will be going put of their way to retain them long term.

Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk

I have to wonder in how many places the existing CSX system has a crossbucks-only Stop and Protect grade crossing where the tar road carries c. 25000 AADT. Because they're buying one (Forest Ave. at Morrill's Corner in Portland, the "B&M side" Warren Ave. line off of Deering Jct.)

You might be surprised. I visited the CSX yard complex in Montgomery, AL several years ago - the entire area (which includes multiple main roads that are crossed at grade) is within yard limits, with multiple stop/protect crossings (and remote control switching, on top of that!). There are lots of industrial buildings in the area, including a steel recycling company (there's a heavy truck for you), chemical companies, and others. I can't see that being the only place they deal with mixing heavy truck traffic with switching...

Joshua

No surprise but per STB filing of 12/20/21, VRS legal rep Robert Wimbish of Fletcher & Sippel LLC will request STB's denial of the acquisition at the 1/13/22 hearing:

The petition for exemption filed in FD 36472 (Sub-No. 5) by which Pittsburg & Shawmut Railroad, LLC d/b/a Berkshire & Eastern seeks Board authorization to operate the lines of Pan Am Southern LLC must be denied for failure to satisfy the individual exemption criteria, due primarily to the fact that the proposed transaction is anticompetitive and contrary to the Rail Transportation Policy of 49 U.S.C. § 10101.

Also note that in a separate filing, Charles A. Spitulnik, Counsel for the State of Vermont, has requested time to speak:

The State of Vermont will focus on the anticompetitive and negative impacts on the public interest that the transactions proposed in this proceeding will cause, and specifically the impact that proposal by the Pittsburgh & Shawmut Railroad d/b/a Berkshire & Eastern Railroad (“B&E”) to assume operating control of the Pan Am Southern LLC will have on Vermont’s rail network, Vermont shippers and rail operators, and the public.

Attorney Wimbish will also speak on behalf of the MBTA:

The proposed Transactions warrant the imposition of appropriate conditions to protect and promote Commonwealth-owned railroad infrastructure and commuter and intercity rail passenger service in Massachusetts.

And B&E itself will have speaker(s) available for the 1/13/22 hearings to emphasize:

(1) PAS will remain as an independent carrier.
(2) B&E, in its role as contract operator, will act exclusively in the interest of PAS.
(3) No shipper (or connecting railroad) will have its competitive access reduced.
(4) The choice of B&E as the PAS contract operator provides public benefits because B&E will provide high quality and safe rail operations.
(5) Although, no shippers seek the Board’s protection from any impacts of the B&E’s operation of the PAS Lines, the owners of PAS have included pricing, haulage, service and other commitments that B&E will be required to honor as the contract operator, to ensure that the transaction will not result in any anticompetitive effects.
(6) B&E’s Amended Petition satisfies the governing legal standard for exemptions and should be granted.

Did we expect different? They are obnoxious.

On Tuesday 12/21/21 the FRA weighed in with an STB filing re: status of the CSX Safety Integration Plan for the acquisition of Pan Am. Here are a few tidbits from the filing that have been discussed previously:

To date, CSX has responded to FRA’s safety concerns and has revised the SIP to reflect FRA’s input. If CSX’s acquisition of Pan Am is approved, FRA will monitor CSX’s implementation of the SIP during the operations integration period, consistent with the governing FRA regulations at 49 C.F.R. part 244 and the Board’s regulations at 49 C.F.R. part 1106, with a particular focus on the following significant items:

Capital projects. CSX has committed to continue the implementation of Federal and State grant programs with approved funding. Concerning Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program (CRISI) grants, CSX has committed to start work related to CRISI grants within one year of the Board’s approval of the proposed transaction, and to complete upgrades related to the grants within five years of the Board’s approval.

Downeaster service. CSX has committed to working with Amtrak to install positive train control on the Downeaster route...

Wachusett Reservoir. CSX has committed to upgrade and maintain the tracks and track structures within the Wachusett Reservoir segment to no less than FRA Class 3 standards...

Track improvements. CSX has committed to upgrade (where necessary) and maintain Pan Am mainline track conditions to no less than FRA Class 2 track standards.

But here is a new item I had not heard about previously - Pan Am installing of a new dispatch system:

Signals and dispatching. CSX has represented that it can provide only limited information regarding the planned integration of signal and dispatching operations because of Pan Am’s pending procurement of a new dispatch system and uncertainty regarding the type of dispatch system in place on Pan Am lines at the time of the Board’s approval. If the proposed merger is approved, FRA will work with CSX to develop more detailed information on the planned integration of signal and dispatching operations. As CSX obtains more information regarding
Pan Am signal and dispatching systems and procedures, FRA will closely monitor CSX’s compliance with the dispatching and operating regulations.

https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 303438.pdf

Yeah, the one they have is custom and archaic. I know, hard to believe.

I believe this is the new system being installed at the new MDOT Ops Center in North Billerica.

Is this related to the new but turned away signal at the Saco train station I noticed when I took the Downeaster last week?

Eric

Not really. I was talking about the new Dispatching Signal System being installed at the new office in North Billerica (brand new building to be occupied by Keolis/T Northside plus PAR train dispatchers.