now, in recent weeks, norfolk southern and pan am railways announced a joint venture on pan am southern. with norfolk southern in the state, what does it spell for the ex-conrail lines taken over by CSX in 1997?. well, NS has been expanding by leaps and bounds, most notably NS's partnership with canadian national to upgrade the mid-american corridor out of chicago. frankly, i smell another wave coming. now, when NS began it's campain to take over conrail in the early 90s, CSX realized what a problem it could be, and a takeover battle insued. well, NS didn't get all of conrail, and CSX got all the former B&A routes north of new york city, along with owning part of the lines in conneticut, rhode island, upstate new york, and the lines in southern new hampshire and vermont. well, it seems to me that NS wants the old B&A routes under it's rule, as a joint venture on one of the most used freight corridors in massachuetts gave NS access to boston, deerfeild, ayer, and numerous other large cities, includding access to worcester on pan am trackage north of the city. now, it appears that NS wants to have CSX's share of conrail, as it is proving extremely profitable. this kind of powerstruggle could be distaterous! with one of the big four in syracruse(the union pacific), it makes you wonder if they will throw their cards down in a third party move, of partner with one of those carriers, offering a route between boston and san fransisco, on a single road. your thoughts anyone?
Disastrous? Since when is competition disastrous? They do not want the B&A or it's lines nor will they ever get them.
They are going to try to compete the best they can with the B&M and grow the traffic base.