Railroad Forums 

  • Pan Am Southern / Patriot Corridor Discussion

  • Pan Am Southern (webssite: https://panamsouthern.com ) is jointly-owned by CSX and Norfolk Southern, but operated by Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Pittsburg & Shawmut dba Berkshire and Eastern,
Pan Am Southern (webssite: https://panamsouthern.com ) is jointly-owned by CSX and Norfolk Southern, but operated by Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Pittsburg & Shawmut dba Berkshire and Eastern,

Moderator: MEC407

 #1482252  by scottychaos
 
"Date of Photo" is wrong, its not 8/8, its actually 8/7.
It went around Horseshoe curve 8/7/2018.
comments in the photo are dated 8/7.

Today, 8/8, the train is sitting in Buffalo all day.
tomorrow, 8/9, it is scheduled to run from Buffalo to Binghamton.
Im not sure of the timeline after Binghamton.

Scot
 #1482259  by gokeefe
 
johnpbarlow wrote:
B&M 1227 wrote:hearing rumors of the ns office car train heading to ayer this friday... stay tuned!
Are NS execs bringing their check book? :wink:
Exactly my thought as well when I saw it was the whole train.
 #1482366  by gokeefe
 
Apparently CSX has decided to partially bail out on upstate New York ... I'm guessing this will result in some significant bteaffic gains for NS/PAS.

Cut and paste not available for wrote but the short version of the story is that CSX wants everything pre-blocked (and likely isn't willing to adjust the joint rate).

CSX will be consolidating UMAX service at Worcester, MA.
 #1482379  by johnpbarlow
 
And speaking of bailing out, rail fan buzz is that given PAS experienced another Erving / Farley area washout (no derailment fortunately) Wednesday night at some point, the Friday NS OCS run from Mechanicville to Ayer and return has been cancelled (some employees have confirmed the cancellation is my understanding). Revenue trains (eg 22K) did resume operating through Farley some time after sunrise today.
 #1482382  by newpylong
 
gokeefe wrote:Apparently CSX has decided to partially bail out on upstate New York ... I'm guessing this will result in some significant bteaffic gains for NS/PAS.

Cut and paste not available for wrote but the short version of the story is that CSX wants everything pre-blocked (and likely isn't willing to adjust the joint rate).

CSX will be consolidating UMAX service at Worcester, MA.
Ah, "precision railroading" again. Would have thought with the passing of EHH they would have woken up. Though thats the difference between being run by a Hedge Fund and railroaders (NS).
 #1482393  by gokeefe
 
I'm a little surprised at this move. It seems extreme to me especially given that they are quitting on markets where shippers would have competitive alternatives.
 #1482421  by newpylong
 
CSX has UMAX service in Worcester, Springfield, Syracuse, Buffalo, (a bunch on Ohio) and Chicago.

So if these lanes are really being dropped for this, NS stands to benefit from this if they can find the capacity.
 #1482560  by johnpbarlow
 
gokeefe wrote:This is total insanity. Dumping premium service customers and volume in a growing market.

I hope NS and Pan Am find a way to take it all.
Per the Freightwaves article at the URL below, I don't think the detail of the change in UP-CSX intermodal terminal pairings are as draconian as the headlines suggest:

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/csx-u ... al-changes

Excerpts:
...In a customer notice sent last week, the line cut 197 of 301 origin-destination pairs provided through network interconnects between the two. Among the metro destinations affected are Baltimore, Charleston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Portsmouth, Savannah, Nashville and Columbus....
...A CSX spokesperson says the changes were made in consultation with UP and that customers were notified well in advance of the changes. It said that many of the impacted lanes had very low volumes with 67 of them having zero freight last year....
...“Despite . . . bluster from shippers with respect to impending service disruptions, we believe actual implications are minimal, while being highly favorable for the efficiency of CSX's intermodal network,” Deutsche Bank said. The bank estimates up to one-third of the lanes being closed have no traffic at all, with the most dense lane having relatively small amounts of container traffic per day. ...” Moreover, there can be “incremental efficiencies to the carriers intermodal networks with traffic destined for Tennessee, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas now interchanging through Memphis versus Chicago prior, which we estimate reduces distance traveled by about 700 miles....”
 #1482571  by gokeefe
 
I'm not going to put a lot of stock in the analysis of an investment bank. Especially not Deutsche Bank. I don't think the shipper issues are "bluster" at all. As they noted the timing is terrible and there are few if any truck alternatives right now.

CSX has just screwed some premium customers right as they are going into their annual peak season.
 #1482645  by CN9634
 
RR owned container fleets are known under performers, slow turn rates, high idling ect... the concept of those box fleets is to supplement the IMCs to help with cargoflow and surge capacity. The lanes CSX cut out are huge under performers as well... it makes no sense to offer services at a loss or break even for the sake of just offering the service. The strategy now of the Class Is is to let the IMCs pickup the slack and the RR becomes just the service provider for them (you'll see 20,000 new boxes this year from the IMCs, likely similar amounts next year).

As for NS, yes they'll pick up volumes in the Northeast (the Mechanicville and Taylor ramp locations are superior to CSX offerings at Syracuse) but first they have to expand Ayer (over capacity, the PS water volumes are filling over into the GMX lot now) and open up the tunnel.
Last edited by CN9634 on Sun Aug 12, 2018 9:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
  • 1
  • 122
  • 123
  • 124
  • 125
  • 126
  • 151