Gilbert B Norman wrote: ↑Fri Mar 01, 2024 8:35 am
CPF66 wrote: ↑Thu Feb 29, 2024 7:27 pm
CSX is years away from being able to effectively move intermodal. ...As for the destinations who knows, originally it was mentioned that CSX was going to try and compete with CP to move intermodal to Chicago. Now the common idea is they are going to use SJ to ship stuff up and down the east coast, which doesn't make much sense when there are ports undercapacity elsewhere on the east coast. At the end of the day, like NHV 669 said, they will move it wherever if they get paid.
Mr. CPF, I'd like to think that Chessie (cats are considerably smarter, but hardly as loyal, as are dogs) did not give up any portion of her Fancy Feast and settle for the stuff at a dollar store, to continue handling the "captive" ten cars a week you note that are interchanged at Northern Maine Junction. She had to know that the MEC was a broken-down road largely comprised of FRA Class 1 (B&M? thank you very much, passenger train agencies, for the Class 4) and that there was high value traffic to be handled. She knew that Searsport was "owned" by CPKC, just as much Portland was largely hers (other guy GT; guess CN again nowadays). So where the high value traffic? Saint John plus maybe convincing the likes of Jeff and Wally World to place some warehouses (whoops, "Distribution Centers") in Maine with rail access.
Of course, we must not lose sight that times have changed for the maritime industry. After the COVID era surge, they are now laying up vessels, and the extra cost, owing to the Middle East hostilities, find that they must now route vessels around the Cape of Good Hope rather than through the Suez Canal hence adding some three weeks of sailing time Asia to NA East Coast. So it's no longer, again as you noted, "get me a berth, any berth" as it was during COVID; the maritime industry has their choice of ports again.
The challenge for Saint John, in addition to scheduling their sailings so that traversing the Bay of Fundy within, say, an hour of the ebb or flood tides, is that the port is so efficient, and their labor costs are somewhat less than in the States, so that they can command more callings. Reliable, competitive, rail routings are needed to enhance that environment.
Mr. Cowford, are you prepared to step up and comment?
I think you are misinterpreting most of the replies on this thread. CSX is going after container traffic, however at this current point in time, A. The traffic isn't there (yet?). CP who already has the infrastructure in place has struggled to attract and retain customers has had stagnated container traffic levels for well over a year now. According to Irving leadership, there was interest from a few other companies in Saint John, however nothing panned out and they don't expect an increase in container traffic until sometime next year, if not the year after. B. To accommodate double stacks CSX has I believe several hundred clearance issues to resolve between Mattawamkeag and Ayer. Those will take some time to resolve, as well as the weight limits of the bridges will need to be upgraded substantially. As it stands the track speeds will have to be increased to at least 40 MPH, if not higher. I think CP still has a shorter route to Chicago than CSX, so that comes into play. C. CSX needs to build up the amount of train crews they have. This summer due to retirements they had way more conductors than engineers, so trains were being cancelled left and right. They sent a few guys to Waycross (?) for engineers school to even the numbers out, but they are still way behind where they should be. Overall pretty much the only guys left are close to retirement or can't leave for one reason or another. Amtrak and other area railroads have continued to take a good sized grapefruit scoop out of the remaining personnel which limits CSX's capabilities. So in short, yes *if* CSX were able to find a customer, they could start moving containers. However, it wont be very advantageous to ship via CSX vs CP at this current point in time.
Which also to address a prior comment, CN is pulling containers out of Saint John. Actually they are the only Class 1, who I think has had an increase in container traffic lately.
https://youtu.be/b3hdRR8mPmQ?feature=shared
It appears that what CN has been moving, is some of the Hapag business CP used to be hauling last year.
At this point I would like to address a few other statements you made.
The 10 cars a week to/from CPKC, is due to the reopening of the line to Mattawamkeag. This is roughly the same amount which was interchanged during MMA and during CMQ when Pan Am was running to Mattawamkeag.
Like I alluded to previously, CSX bought Pan Am as a long term investment. I am sure Jacksonville is closely monitoring CP's problems and traffic levels and are investing in the railroad accordingly. It would be unwise for CSX to just drop a bunch of money into track upgrades, just for the container business to be a major flop. They already have nearly a billion dollars invested into the purchase of Pan Am, let alone the future infrastructure needed to handle container traffic. If that were all for nothing, that would be a painful pill to swallow. So slowly upgrading the network and watching how things are unfolding is a much smarter move. Which appears to be what they are doing.
As for your comment about Searsport, I am not sure why CSX would have any interest in Searsport or what CP is doing there. Searsport is a pretty backwater port unless you want to get chemicals and slurry for Madawaska or Irving Pulp and Paper, along with the occasional cars of diesel for Dead River in Fort Kent or Houlton. CP has let the speeds drop on that line down to 10 MPH. And at this point, although they go down there twice a week, the current traffic levels would probably be enough for one trip a week, if Sprauge could switch their own cars. I know CP is doing some trackwork down there this summer related to windmill blades being moved, however I only imagine that will be a few trains a month like what was done during MMA/CMQ.
Portland is even more of a backwater port. I don't think any slurry is moved out of there anymore and I think the last ship to rail business there is the coal for Rumford.
GT/SLR hasn't been relevant since the G&W takeover. SLR is down to running two days a week on the US side. Less than 5 years ago they were running pretty much Monday-Friday. With the arrival of the SD70MAc's to replace some of the other power, they could probably get away with running one 100 car 393 and 394 a week. They also haven't run down near Portland in 10 years, and I think the swing bridge/connection with MEC/Pan Am was severed in the 70's or 80's.
As for the Walmart warehouses, I don't think the need is there anymore. SLR handled some of that business in the 90's and 2000's and I think the traffic had completely dried up by the 2010's.
Thats just my observations on the subject.
