Future of ex. B&A, Boston Line

Rumors of CSX Selling the line,
The Framingham auto-yard closing,
Awkward freight movements in fraimingham (mixed freight in the auto yard and autoracks in north framingham)...

Will another railroad (other than the T) take over operations on the line if CSX gets rid of it?

Any info on the auto-yard?

And one side note... What does the NA of the NA dispatcher stand for?

Just curious:

Where did you get this news from? A newspaper article?

Have heard the same rumors about CSX dumping the B&A from Worchester east, and they were going to sell it to the P&W. As for the yard in Fraimingham most of the auto racks now go to the new site in E. Brookfeild which from what Ive seen on my trips to BOS on 448 isnt really working all that well.

All the dispatchers in Selkirk have two letter codes for the territory they are working, ie NA for the Boston sub, NB for the Berkshire sub, NC for the Hudson sub.

Where did you get this news from? A newspaper article?


Articles, internet, other railfans, couldnt name exact sources but there are enough to think this is quite possibly under corporate discussion.

rumors... unless its official from the website its not true. dont believe the lies.

The Port of Boston was one of the primary reason CSX wanted that section of Conrail, along with the gateway to New England traffic. What you may see is CSX letting local customers slip away and just run the mains, letting small yards and local business go to shortlines while CSX simple delivers the unit trains and cuts of cars to the short lines for them to switch the customers.

mikec880 wrote:rumors... unless its official from the website its not true. dont believe the lies.

I wouldnt be so narrow minded, more info from an employee... CSX's plan is/was to sell the track to P&W. Also there plan is to privatize the yards.

CRail,

Also there plan is to privatize the yards.

I assume you mean spin-off? CSX is a private company so they can't privatize something that is already private.

Just trying to clarify, thanks,
Stephen

CRail wrote:

mikec880 wrote:rumors... unless its official from the website its not true. dont believe the lies.

I wouldnt be so narrow minded, more info from an employee... CSX's plan is/was to sell the track to P&W. Also there plan is to privatize the yards.

Corey, it's true that we cannot listen to rumors, however, I have heard from pretty reliable sources in management and other places, such as Selkirk......that the plan is:

East of Worcester: to be sold.........MBTA would probably be a good candidate, but Guilford & the P&W have shown interest.

Latest I have heard is keeping the B&A to Boston, but sell of lines down south (i.e. Middleboro, Fall River, New Bedfod Secondaries will al be owned by the MBTA when the proposed commuter rail service starts.)

As for the CP Yard (auto yard in Framingham): Onef the auto manufacturers is "grandfathered in" and refuses to relocate to East Brookfield. Also, many auto racks were re-routed from New York/New Jersey to CP Yard due to congestion for faster distribution of the new vehicles.

The main reason for freight in the CP Yard is that both Nevins and North Framingham are at full capacity, and the extra spce in the CP yard is being used to switch-out blocks for outbound trains (such as B725's loads for Medfield Junction, Walpole, Mansfield and Cape Cod ..... & B731's loads for Readville).


As for the sale of lines, don't worry, it isn't gonna happen overnight.

It is no rumor that CSXT is looking at the possibility of making some serious changes to its New Engalnd franchise. I can tell you with 110% certainty that they have looked at 3 different scenarios regarding the B&A, with one plan calling for the sale of the main line East of Worcester, one for the sale of the main East of Springfield and one for the sale of the entire B&A East of Selkirk. I'm not sure what types of haulages or trackage rights they would retain to possibley run their Intermodal and Auto trains, but I think that would be part of the deal. For some reason, CSXT does not consider lines East of Albany to be in their "Core" system, which seems strange to me since they are running 20-25 trains a day on this line. They are also talking with the ST in regard to the possibility of running some of their business on the ST's mainline (perhaps all the Maine traffic, the Ayer auto train, etc) and I have also hear that there have been discussions to move some of the Beacon Park traffic to Ayer (Intermodal, Transload, etc). The branch lines in Southeast MA look like they'll be the first to go with the PW, Rail America and even the Bay Colony having a shot.

Reallistically, I just can't see CSXT getting rid of the B&A all the way from Selkirk, but certainly East of Worcester, as almost all the auto traffic is now gone from Framingham, and CSXT's Worcester Intermodal yard has clearly become their big regional terminal, surpassing Boston in lifts. If they continue to operate to Worcester, they will still have direct access to the PW as well as the Ayer line to the ST. East of Worcester all they really lose is the general freight business run out of Framingham and Readville as well as the Allston Intermodal business which is shrinking anyway and which could be diverted perhaps to the PW or ST at Ayer.

the Port of Boston was never even on CSX's radar screen in their CR purchase. The port has been declining for years and was long ago relegated to being feeder port for New York and Halifax. Ever bigger vessels (that can't venture up the Mystic River), Boston's labor issues, and its geographic position all were contributing factors.

CSX divesting east of Albany or Springfield... and relying on ST to provide haulage services??? I'll have what he's smoking, please!

until this thing eventually happens.. whichever scenario it'll be.. its still a rumor. nothing is set in stone and certainly "talking" and "figuring" it out doesnt make it definitely happening. we'll wait and see...

roberttosh wrote:East of Worcester all they really lose is the general freight business run out of Framingham and Readville

Are you trying to say that there is n business in those areas?!? If anything one of our local big-wigs is turning business away!! Framingham switches out 100 cars a day easily on just the after-noon yard switcher in the North Yard. Add to that thefact that the morning job to Leominste (FR-10)...oops, did I use a ConRail symbol, sorry, B724...handles about 40 to 60 cars roundtrip daily. B725 takes an average of 80+ cars south per night, which mostly all of them are spotted at custumers the next day. Sam goes for Readville, sometimes B731 takes 40 to 50 cars home from Framingham, and of those all of them are on spot at the customer that day, unless there are too many for the customer's siding.

CSXT would much rather longhaul all this freight to and from the yards at Framingham, getting most of the linehaul revenue, and let someone like RailAmerica do all the switching and deliveries for a minimal fee. Switching is very time consuming and costly and then there are the headaches in dealing with the MBTA and Amtrak. This work is much more suited to the low cost regional carriers.

As for the guy that would like some of what I've been smoking, I didn't say that what CSXT was proposing would happen or that it even made any sense, but I can tell you that those meetings took place as I know more than one person that participated in them. In case you hadn't heard, CSXT is also looking at selling it's mainline to Miami, it's Phosphate franchise in Florida's Bone Valley and the former B&O coal district centered around Grafton, WV.

One other thing, I think you are incorrect when you say that the Leominster local averages 40-60 cars per day. I've seen that train several times over the past few months and while it occassionally has been pushing 30-40 cars, it usually seems to be closer to 20-30 cars. I believe the train goes as far as Leominster on TU & TH only, and that's when it get a bit longer, but again, I think 40-60 cars is a bit of a stretch.