Do railroads actually 'compete' with each other?

Interesting question... do the RR actually compete with one another for the 'same' customers? How can they? If customer "A" is located along the NS tracks, no other RR can get to them. So how is it competition?

It's not

It's not

Try explaining that to the guy at CSX who was responsible for the UPS account. Willing to bet he was looking for a new employer after UPS moved to NS.

Most customers with a siding (except a few power plants or auto palnts) don't have the option of another railroad making the delivery. You can get competition for hauling intermodal NYC to Chicago because the truck can drive into the CSX or the NS yard nex door. Also some transload facilities may allow for competition but otherwise it's train vs truck.

A very few customers at both ends of a move both have double ended sidings that each connnect with 2 different railroads. There are other variations of this rare but desirable (from the customers' view) example.

Do a seach engine search for electric utilities and/or generators and railroads and coal, and you wil likely find graphic illustration of the lack of competition.

[quote] Ken W2KB Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:03 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do a seach engine search for electric utilities and/or generators and railroads and coal, and you wil likely find graphic illustration of the lack of competition. [/quote]

Except in NJ, where most coal-fired plants are on Conrail and can be served by either NS or CSX - Beesley Point, Deepwater, etc. Others could be served by either, but the coal is shipped by barge, such as West End.

Many utilities cry a river about 'lack of rail competition'.

ajt wrote:

Ken W2KB Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 3:03 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do a seach engine search for electric utilities and/or generators and railroads and coal, and you wil likely find graphic illustration of the lack of competition.

Except in NJ, where most coal-fired plants are on Conrail and can be served by either NS or CSX - Beesley Point, Deepwater, etc. Others could be served by either, but the coal is shipped by barge, such as West End.

Many utilities cry a river about 'lack of rail competition'.

True, PSEG Power LLC's Hudson 2 (at West End) and Burlington 7 units switched to barge delivery over 20 years ago as it is less expensive. In that case, Conrail did not have a competitive price vs the barge. But in most cases, generators are captive to the rail lines on which they are located, as are the coal mines. In some cases, foreign coal is imported and may or may not need rail from the deepwater port to the station. The other two coal stations owned partly by PSEG Power, but located at the mine mouth so no tranportation at all (Keystone and Conemaugh stations in western Pennsylvania) the so-called "coal by wire" stations. There is also a PSEG Power coal station in Connecticut, and I believe that also has barge deliveries.

An interesting question that is not specific to New Jersey, I have moved it here. -omv

In the days when Class I railroads were numbered into the low triple-digits, and many medium-sized cities were served by three or four carriers, railroads oftn entered into "reciprocal switching agreements", whereby a local carrier would handle traffic delivered by another which performed most of the line-haul, on the presumption that the disparity would eventually correct itself.

The vast reducton in the number of carriers and the emergence of increased high-vlume bulk traffic at one end of the spectrum, and flexible intermodal service at the other, have served to diminish the usefulness of these measures.

A relevant link is included below:

http://www.wheatworld.org/pdf/Senate%20 ... ection.DOC

we have a couple interchange places with UP near our yard. One of the interchanges is an old yard and there are customers in that yard served both by BNSF and UP. They change up every once and a while