Why is Rail Frieght dying in NE?

I don't know the economics of rail transport but ---


Naugatuck Valley,Connecticut?


There were numerous industries using the line for freight. (that still exist) In several years all switched to truck.

Even the 'cement' operation in Ansonia got 'frieght' cars as did the 'propane' place.

I think the 'candy bar' place in Naugatuck is still serviced and the scrap yard on Watertown branch.


I never see any comments by the customers themselves as to WHY they switched to truck?

Even Torrington was serviced but as to that if the Naugatuck can't find a customer that's worth it?


Otherwise it is almost amazing as to the only thing that is politically correct in Connecticut.

--- NO heavy industry


Condo's..office buildings...shopping mall's.....

In regards to losing freight business, I could be wrong about some of what I'm about to say, but I think I can remember things correctly. Around 1990 it was reported I believe thru Gov. Weld? that it was being looked into having the port of Boston returned to being able handle freighters on a regular basis. There was talk of having the rail yards at Ft. Devens expanded and upgraded to handle the many additional cars that would be loaded in Boston and then shipped out to Ayer to be ready for trips out to Chicago. The thought to this process was intsead of having the ships have to go all the way to NY city they could arrive in Boston and be on the rails a day ahead of time. I never heard of why this idea was turned down and what happened to it, but if it had come true then the possibilities were there for significant rail traffic to have returned.

The answer to this question. Because the Railroads suck. More Specifically Guilford. They haven't put the $$ into upgrading and expanding the system so most of the companies have resorted to Trucks. The only good railroads are the SLR, MMA, CSX (Which isnt do that hot I believe) and maybe VRS?

I know both the SLR and MMA are putting money into upgrade/expansion with the SLR putting in a new yard and the MMA fixing and maintaining the track.

GRS on the other hand has done very little. The government has pulled them along with the Upgrade to 115lb welded rail from Portland down to Boston. And aside from small patches of CWR in Orono and Lewiston, much of the rail is still the old MEC jointed rail (Of which has hardly been maintained). Due to this freight is slow to moving through the state. Aside from the track problem Guilford has an "we'll do what we want" attitude. This is reflected in their service and in their several court cases over the years.
So why is freight daying in NE? The answer is Guilford. Besides that the other RR's are doing pretty nice

I would suggest that you check a New Haven Railroad timetable of the
1960's, there was a map in the centerfold and this map showed a lot of
branch lines all over southern New England. After you have done that,
take a look at the current railroad situation in southern New England.
Many of the branch lines are gone and some of the others have little or no
freight business on them
"Good" railroad or "bad" railroad, they can't exist where the business or
industry is gone and most of the industry is GONE. CSX, Guilford, New
England Central or any of the others, you can't run them on "wind pudding".
See for yourself, ride one of two Metro-North branch lines the Danbury
Branch where the only remaining freight business is a little bit in Bethel or
the Waterbury Branch where outside of Waterbury about the only business
left is in Beacon Falls. Take notice of the empty and unused factory
buildings in various states of decay especially in Naugatuck and Ansonia.
There are a number of railroad lines in the northeast that today exist for
commuter passenger service only and have absolutely no revenue freight business of any kind. This did not occur because of poor service but
rather from the closing of the business. The big industries that were
served by the New Haven Railroad and later Penn Central and Conrail
received good service and they were depended upon good service but they closed down anyway.
Heavy freight, gone and very unlikely to ever return.
Noel Weaver

New Bedford, Massachusetts is a prime example of what Noel is talking about. The once extensive rail yard was cut back to almost nothing and was closed completely for some time with no impact on local business because there are no industries left in the downtown area that use rail service. The mills and factories that used rail service years ago have been torn down, replaced by low income housing, or turned into run-down antique warehouses or discount stores. The recent repair of a small portion of the yard is tied to the removal of PCB contaminated dirt from the area. Maybe someday there will be a restoration of passenger service to the area that will make use of some of the rest of the yard, but I probably won't get to see that at the rate it is progressing.

mxdata wrote:New Bedford, Massachusetts is a prime example of what Noel is talking about. The once extensive rail yard was cut back to almost nothing and was closed completely for some time with no impact on local business because there are no industries left in the downtown area that use rail service. The mills and factories that used rail service years ago have been torn down, replaced by low income housing, or turned into run-down antique warehouses or discount stores. The recent repair of a small portion of the yard is tied to the removal of PCB contaminated dirt from the area. Maybe someday there will be a restoration of passenger service to the area that will make use of some of the rest of the yard, but I probably won't get to see that at the rate it is progressing.

Also, the containers that arrive at the Port of New York, for example, are likely less expensive to truck to New England. Not cost effective to transfer to train, and then back to truck somewhere in New England for the short distance.

There are some other problems in addition to the short haul for trailers
and containers between New York and New England. The Metro-North
and Amtrak lines do not have proper clearances for today's containers.
Metro-North in addition has a signal system that is not condicive to freight
train operation and especially through freight train operation and it would
be impossible to run an overnight service under the present set up.
Unfortunately, the alternate routes that would have avoided a good
number of the clearance problems and terminal bottleneckshave long since been abandoned and torn up.
Noel Weaver

Here's a quick review of what happened freight-wise Waterbury-Torrington on what is now the Naugatuck RR -
Waterville
Blake and Johnson - closed
Scovil Brass - closed
D-A Lubricants - to truck
Cement - to trucks
Chase Metal Works - closed

Thomaston
Plume and Atwood - closed
Thomaston Grain and Coal - closed
Seth Thomas (off-line) - closed
Chapman Lumber - to truck, then moved

East Litchfield
? Oil - closed
Blue Seal Grain - truck
Agway - truck

Torrington
Turner & Seymour - almost closed
Charter Oak / Stone Container - closed
? Beer Distributor - truck
Swifts - closed
Kelley Oil - closed
Kelley Coal - minimal activity, to truck
Iffland Lumber - truck
Other large indusries in Torrington have vanished or are at deaths's door.
Brass mills used to consume large quantities of coal amd other raw materials- all gone.

While I'm no expert, I would say what happened is mostly that there is not much left to haul in any rail-type quantity.
Old freight staples such as lumber and grain have gone to a different distribution system, lumber for Chapmans and Iffland may come from distributors on the Housatonic RR. With the reduction in farming, demand for feed is a shadow of what once was.
Hope for future freight is mostly trash, building demolition debris and scrap. And a shortline is only as good as its connection to the outside world.

Without a doubt industry in New England is a ghost of what it was. That said, the examples of GRS's incompetence given on this thread highlight how they have alienated many of the remaining freight shippers that now use trucks and in turn clog our highways.

Heavy Industry is gone. GRS is nothing like the B&M of old.

What has come is high-tech industry, but that doesn't ship by rail. Now, I-95/128 in Boston is clogged worse than I-93 through Downtown.

Industry may not be what it once was (i.e manufacturing), but there are still the big Paper, Pulp and Lumber mills up North and as long as there are 10+ million people living in New England, there will be mass quantities of building materials (Lumber, Steel, Cement, Brick, Aggregate), packaging materials (Pulpboard, Plastic Pellets), Food products (Perishables, Flour, Beer, Oils, Syrups, Sugar, Canned Goods), Fuels (Coal, Oil, LPG, Ethanol), Scrap/Waste Materials (Scrap Iron, Glass Cullett, Garbage, C&D, Haz Soil, Scrap Paper) and alot of other miscelaneous products such as Newsprint, Autos, Grain, Chemicals, Rock Salt, Fertilizers, etc moving in and out of the region. It's a losing cause sticking up for Guilford, their customers hate them to death and almost all the other railroads in New England transload around them due to their poor service. The fact that Northeast Utilities was forced to send Coal from the Port of Providence bound for their Mt Tom generating station to a CSXT transload operation at their West Springfield yard for truck delivery at surely a several dollar per ton premium shows just how low they have sunk. No other outfit in the Country would let a desperately needed empty Coal train sit at a power plant for a week - but that's exactly what Guilford regularly does as they have no power, no crews and no hope!