Potential PAR/PAS Traffic Growth

Wonders never cease.

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I've considered this topic's question at a posting over at the acquisition topic.

Is the plastic pellet traffic interchanged to the Housy at Pittsfield and consigned to Becton Dickinson at Canaan worth it to Chessie to buy up that portion of the New Haven's Berkshire line and let the rest of that sorry excuse of a railroad simply fold?

Off-topic, but I think they would have tried a long time ago if they thought it was worth it.

My contacts at Keolis tell me there are strong rumors of CSX meeting with Global in East Boston.

My CSX contacts tell me there are plans for Portland, whatever that means.

Do either of the global terminal in Chelsea or Revere Have any kind of rail access? I know neither facility has a direct rail connection currently, but is there a connection via pipeline?

Any additional info on what CSX wants to develop in Portland? Containers? Refrigerated cargo? Imported oil products? ethanol? To my knowledge, none of the terminals in Portland are currently equipped to handle loading / export of refined product or ethanol.

Cosakita18 wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 5:24 am Any additional info on what CSX wants to develop in Portland? Containers? Refrigerated cargo? Imported oil products?

I don't pretend to have any inside knowledge but could likely be Ethanol, Butane, Bio-Diesel or Low Sulfur Diesel for the tank farm.

Do either of the global terminal in Chelsea or Revere Have any kind of rail access?

It's been a few years, but when the topic of ethanol trains came up before, so many pearls were clutched in the area that there was a global shortage. Given the insanity last time around, I'd imagine any discussion is probably on a different topic, but you never know.

http://chelsearecord.com/2013/07/04/scr ... rain-plan/

newpylong wrote:My CSX contacts tell me there are plans for Portland, whatever that means.

Refrigerated probably makes the most sense at this point.


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One of the secondary goals of the planned waterfront cold storage facility is to attract refer ships which currently call at Bayside, NB on the Alaska-Panama Canal-Europe frozen fish trade. It's an attainable goal for the IMT, but I don't know if it's the kind of traffic a Class 1 RR would chase.

Also worth noting the current Cold Storage proposal very noticeably lacks direct rail access. The developers intend to use the adjacent IM pad to potentially handle refrigerated containers arriving by rail and then dray them ~500 feet to the warehouse.

newpylong wrote: ↑Tue May 25, 2021 8:24 pm My contacts at Keolis tell me there are strong rumors of CSX meeting with Global in East Boston.

There was strong opposition years ago when this idea was first floated and we all poo-pooed it. Then Lac-Megantic happen . . . .

So I think we can forget it.

I wouldn't be so sure of that. If nothing else they could probably run blocks in regular manifest service which wouldn't ring so many alarm bells.

I just pass information like this along, take it for what it's worth.

To Roberttosh's point, they could bring in smaller slugs of it from Lawrence with the rest of the BO traffic, even if that isn't the modus operandi for Class Is.

gokeefe wrote: ↑Wed May 26, 2021 8:58 pm Refrigerated probably makes the most sense at this point.

Wonder if the gasoline company sidings on the Turner's Island branch could be used again by CSX?

newpylong wrote: ↑Thu May 27, 2021 10:23 am I just pass information like this along, take it for what it's worth.

To Roberttosh's point, they could bring in smaller slugs of it from Lawrence with the rest of the BO traffic, even if that isn't the modus operandi for Class Is.

With PSR, there's actually been a shift or more of an acceptance in moving blocks in manifest service vs full unit trains. Many locations around the country receive regular manifest shipments, some along with full unit trains, so definitely not a deal breaker. I don't recall any outcry when they started shipping blocks of Acid up to Peabody through Boston so I think as long as they stay away from unit train proposals it would be an easy get.

I hope I am wrong and you are all right! I'd love to see those tracks reactivated.