Potential PAR/PAS Traffic Growth

BM6569 wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:17 am Republic Services is looking move to out of Ayer yard to a larger spot so they can expand. Was in a recent STB filing. They have reached an agreement with PAR and CSX to help with the move.

Just for fun anyone want to suggest a location? I'll throw a few out:

Adesa - Framingham
CP Yard - Framingham
NE Transrail - Woburn (don't know where this stands anymore)
Iron Horse Park - Billerica
Mystic Wharf - Charlestown (close to Roxbury and would love to see this line rebirth)

I have to ask; is this garbage, after a PAR/CSX combination, worth going out of your way to handle?

Sure, Pan Am "gets what they get" for traffic, but I'd like to think that Chessie wants, with her resources to develop better rail service to Maine, that the thrust would be to the finished "Products of Forests" industries (plywood, paper) and development of maritime port traffic (Portland, Searsport, Saint John).

Why wouldn't they want thousands of cars per year of business, that's all private equipment, easy to switch and has virtually zero freight claims? C&D, MSW, dirty dirt, etc already make up a major portion of what CSX hauls in New England and it will only be getting bigger.

Yes, it's gravy traffic that they can't even handle right now and it's only going to grow. Trash is the new paper for New England rail. CSX is going to eat it like a buffet.

I know Casella in Boston really wants rail service and I heard rumor of another trash outfit coming on in Woburn. I also heard that the cement plant there was recently sold and they want to get product from Dragon on the Rockland Branch.

In one of the two Republic's comment documents filed at the STB on 9/9/21 is the following :

The CSX Parties have filed with the STB an application (the "Application") seeking approval for the CSX Parties' acquisition of control of Pan Am and the merger of certain Pan Am subsidiaries into CSXT, among other implementing transactions related to the control and merger element of the proposed transaction (collectively, the "Transaction"). Republic's previously expressed concerns about the Transaction have now been resolved by the commitments hereby agreed upon between the Parties:
1. Agreements
a. NSR, PAS, B&E and CSXT agree to extend the PAS Rail Transportation Agreement for x years upon expiration on December 31, xxxx;
b. NSR, PAS, B&E and CSXT agree to extend the PAS Railroad Track Lease for x years upon expiration on December 31, xxxx; the track lease will be subject to a total fee of xxx payable in x equal, annual payments;
c. CSXT agrees to a x-year extension of CSXT Contract-upon expiration on December 31, xxxx;
d. CSXT agrees to add current rates from Ayer, MA to Niagara Falls, NY and Fostoria, OH to CSXT Contract xxxxx; and
e. NSR, PAS, B&E and CSXT agree to provide an exception to the Rotterdam Routing Protocol for shipments from Ayer, MA to Niagara Falls, NY and Fostoria, OH.

Note that I've inserted 1 or more "x" characters where text was redacted in this filing.

I think item e above is interesting in that I think it will take the current shipment of Republic trash containers / C&D gondolas off the PAS routing to RJ and place them on the B&A to Selkirk Yard, if I understand correctly. I'm guessing would permit CSX to consolidate the Ayer trash/C&D CSX with the trash/C&D that CSX collects from Leominster, Brockton, and other northeast US locations. But it's more tonnage to be removed from PAS, which plays to Canadian Pacific's contention that in the long run the proposed transaction will result in a downgrade of the PAS as a competitive route to/from New England.

And to the point re: CP's concern over the route's viability is this excerpt from a Trains Magazine on-line article including commentary from CSX CEO Jim Foote:

CP also contends CSX over the long term would route its single-line traffic away from Pan Am Southern and onto the B&A, which would significantly diminish the viability of the former B&M main line that carries CP interchange traffic to and from the heart of New England.

Foote was perplexed about why CP wants to continue to run its New England traffic through the Hoosac Tunnel, which he noted has clearance restrictions and cannot accommodate double-stack intermodal traffic. CP does not route intermodal trains via interchange with Pan Am.

“We’ve got a super deluxe double-stack railroad, but they don’t like it for some reason,” Foote says of CSX’s B&A. “So they want to go through the Hoosac, we’ll send them through the Hoosac.”

https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 302986.pdf

newpylong wrote: ↑Fri Sep 10, 2021 7:50 pm I know Casella in Boston really wants rail service and I heard rumor of another trash outfit coming on in Woburn. I also heard that the cement plant there was recently sold and they want to get product from Dragon on the Rockland Branch.

Let's hope these come to fruition. Interestingly, doing a bit of image searching on Google Earth, Casella had rail service until the tracks were pulled up about 20 years ago:

Except that this goes against the "vision" that Somerville and Boston have for this area. Definitely not rail. Also the serious crimp in railroad operations flexibility brought on by the result of GLX (Green Line)(loss of Yard 8).

The rumor is NS has finally had enough and will be crewing some of their trains again on PAS. Management has been running half the trains.

They want to bring the dedicated auto train back as they landed a Toyota contract at Sanvel and will be building another track. Talks of a dedicated trash train too. All depending on crews really. Tonnage is way up on PAS and they can't move it.

Wait. NS wants involvement and direct management over what they’ve owned half of for more than a decade?? How dare they recently become woke.

GP40MC1118 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 11, 2021 11:42 am Except that this goes against the "vision" that Somerville and Boston have for this area. Definitely not rail.

You can take a Google Earth ride behind Casella. It's not exactly an area that has much appeal or "vision".

This is the location of the tracks in the past:

Old Track 12 off the Davis Track.

Now that greater Boston is a big trash exporter, rail infrastructure will have to be added somewhere—“vision” notwithstanding—to keep the trash flowing out of state. There used to be quite a number of landfills in eastern mass but I can’t think of any that we’re not capped and closed.
This could be huge business for years since Boston will keep making refuse in high volume and it is possible that the carriers gain pricing power since there is nothing else to do with it because incinerators are deemed not green also.
This will only end when the recipients of the trash ban out of state waste

roberttosh wrote: ↑Thu Jun 24, 2021 6:25 pm Agreed, with no on-dock rail (or even potential for a nearby suitable IM yard) . . .

Just for the hell of it I did some image searching and found this from when the old Track 61 yard next to the Convention Center was cleared. It's bigger than I thought. There is potential for a 4 track pad area of about 1500 feet in length here. I would think this could be used for at least a small trial container service out of Conley. It's probably a 5 minute dray away.

No room for a packer to maneuver for 4 tracks there, two at most, on either side - hard top in the middle.

At least the second grain train for Ayer coming over the B&A soon. G110 by Fairport, N.Y. this morning. A sign of things to come or the lack of crews and slow speeds on the west end of PAS the reason?