CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

I wonder if by opening an intermodal terminal in Portland, CSX is looking to capture Maine or NB paper traffic that is now railed down to Ayer and loaded into containers that head west on the NS intermodal train?

Quick question: are we talking Portland, or South Portland? People from outside the Greater Portland area often refer to South Portland as Portland despite them being two separate cities; I'm just trying to get a clearer picture of what/where we're discussing.

Rigby Yard is in South Portland and could easily accommodate an intermodal terminal, but if we're talking about Portland, where exactly in Portland would the terminal be located?

South, in the yard. Lotta space... lots of OOS tracks, etc.

Thanks!

They could take a good chunk of the East yard for IM. Rebuild the West yard for local switching.

Was thinking the same thing, the West side has the space but not the best road access plus you probably want to stay away from trucks having to cross the main with the DowmEaster speeding through several times per day.

I think regardless of what side the ramp is put on, the main wouldn't be crossed. The entrance that would make the most sense is the current yard entrance off Rumery as that would avoid nearly all traffic on residential streets from the highway. It should be interesting to see what happens, there certainly is a lot of room in that yard.

I hate to be that lazy a'hole but in my defense, there are 171 pages to this thread!

Anyone have an update/summary of what's going on with this? I only found out about it a few weeks ago. Is it going through? When is it going through? What does it realistically mean for the current Pan Am routes? More traffic? Less traffic? Same traffic?

Are they going to phase out the Pan Am and big G locomotives so we'll eventually see nothing but CSX locos? They're pretty sharp looking honestly so that wouldn't be so bad.

eolesen wrote: ↑Sun Jun 13, 2021 2:19 pm Yeah, but those down-payments or breakup fees are usually only enforced when someone voluntarily walks away from a deal.

Not true, at least not in other industries (I can't speak specifically about railroads). AT&T had to pay T-Mobile a big chunk of change when that merger was denied; I believe Staples also had to do the same for Office Depot / OfficeMax.

CN9634 wrote: Also, there are major distribution facilities in Portland for Hannaford, Office Max...

The Office Max / Office Depot DC in Portland closed two years ago; Eimskip is in there now.

l008com wrote: ↑Thu Jun 17, 2021 8:44 am Anyone have an update/summary of what's going on with this? I only found out about it a few weeks ago. Is it going through? When is it going through? What does it realistically mean for the current Pan Am routes? More traffic? Less traffic? Same traffic?

Are they going to phase out the Pan Am and big G locomotives so we'll eventually see nothing but CSX locos? They're pretty sharp looking honestly so that wouldn't be so bad.

Short form: the STB has ruled that this is classified as a Significant Transaction, and is requiring Pan Am and CSX to file more extensive paperwork; overall things are in a holding pattern while that's being worked on. You can see all the filings (make sure you choose Filings and not Decisions) using the Search at stb.gov; put FD in the first dropdown and 36472 in the box that follows. The intent is that Pan Am and all its predecessor railroads like ST and MEC will disappear into CSXT, so presumably the engines will be repainted or replaced over time. They're still hoping for it to go into effect in 2022.

CSX has stated publicly (via their STB filings) that they intend to sell PAR's six-axle GE locos to GWI (for use by B&E on the former Pan Am Southern lines), and that they will evaluate PAR's four-axle locos to determine which ones might be worth keeping. If they keep any, it is highly likely that CSX will overhaul/rebuild them, and then repaint them in CSX colors.

For what it's worth, CSX already has enough motive power to operate PAR without needing PAR's locos. They've got several hundred of their own locos stored serviceable around the system — a fairly eclectic mix of six-axle and four-axle EMDs and GEs. But it's also worth noting that neither EMD nor GE are building new four-axle locos anymore, so CSX may see merit in keeping and rebuilding some of PAR's better four-axle units.

I expect csx to be interested in the pan am emd 4 axle locos to the extent they keep any. The pan am 4 axle GEs were already disposed of once by csx so I would be shocked if they want them back

roberttosh wrote: ↑Wed Jun 16, 2021 11:27 am I wonder if by opening an intermodal terminal in Portland, CSX is looking to capture Maine or NB paper traffic that is now railed down to Ayer and loaded into containers that head west on the NS intermodal train?

Mr. Tosh, I'm totally blindsided by this report.

Does this report establish that paper products originating on the MEC are handled by Boxcar to Ayer, thence TRANSLOADED to Containers for forwarding to destination by PAS and NS?

Or possibly are we addressing that these paper products are handled by highway to Ayer thence transloaded; or maybe the highway trailers are handling Containers for onward rail shipment?

In either case, if Chessie is willing to build a terminal for such at Rigby, or wherever in the Portland area, this business could be handled far more efficiently - and Topper would be completely cut out (Chessie's purring).

And, lest we forget, more efficient handling could easily result in more business.

My understanding is that the paper transloading in Ayer has been going on for a long time. The box cars of paper go to a warehouse very close to the IM tracks in the hill yard

And to the big Sappi warehouse on the other side of the yard. Not everything unloaded there goes out via NS intermodal, but definitely a good chunk. Back in the day, much of this business moved on TV 95 out of Waterville.