CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

Quick clarification Mr. F7; the Albany Main?

That's former D&H Albany Oneonta-Binghamton connecting there with the ERIE?

I spend half the time in these posts trying to decode the "interesting" language.... in any case, I think I'm up to speed....

Just the almost moribund section of the ex D&H Albany mainline from Delanson to the former diamond on the ex NYC at vorheesville is being rebuilt. This section used to continue into the city of Albany but is torn up past VORHEESVILLE
The other d&h mainline that splits at delanson to go north to Schenectady and beyond is unaffected, as is the d&h mainline south from delanson to Binghamton

OK Mr. F7,

So the Delanson-Voorheesville segment of the D&H, for which Topper persuaded Gov. Kathy to throw some oats in his bin to rebuild, is being done so to expedite the interchange of cars between the D&H and the NYC, or in newspeak, the NS and CSX?

No, it's being rebuilt so that their intermodal train coming north out of Binghamton can bang a right onto the Albany Secondary, and then use the restored connection onto the Selkirk Sub at Voorheseville. From there the train will bypass Selkirk yard, and then go east on the B&A, and finally up the Worcester Sub to terminate in Ayer. All of this so they don't have to run on their own track (PAS). Allows them to run double domestic stacks.

That makes sense, Mr. Newpy, especially since Topper can track on the B&A to the Boston area (Ayer, I guess). You have as good as implied that the PAS, or at least the B&M though Hoosac Tunnel, is now just a Short Line handling what traffic they have from on-line industries to a Class I, Chessie or Topper, interchange.

But I guess I'm at a loss to understand as to how the New York State public interest is bettered with Gov. Kathy "throwing oats into Topper's bin" for the project. Will this get her campaign contributions, or votes?

No idea why NY chose to spend taxpayer $ on this. Take what you can get I suppose, since NYS taxes RR infrastructure at extreme levels, which has prompted mass removal and destruction of yards and trackage across the state in recent years

With a significant reduction in transit time (and crews?) between the Boston/Worcester region and the Albany area as compared to the current PAS routing, perhaps NS will see an opportunity to develop north/south non-premium IM traffic to/from Harrisburg and points south like Atlanta and Jacksonville competing with trucking on I-95 and I-81.

I could see that, Mr. Barlow, but would put the new doublestack clearance capabilities in the driver's seat, also extending the range of possibility out through to Birmingham into Dallas as well as out of Memphis, emphasizing Atlanta, as an extension of their existing services and in the light of their strategic desire to grow by leveraging their intermodal franchise.

With CSX also developing full stack along their I-95 corridor we may see re-development and enhancement of their New England intermodal play out of GA, FL, SC, NC, though nothing there for Port Saint John potential.

For both roads, it will be interesting to see what develops.

F74265A wrote: ↑Wed May 24, 2023 9:58 am No idea why NY chose to spend taxpayer $ on this. Take what you can get I suppose, since NYS taxes RR infrastructure at extreme levels, which has prompted mass removal and destruction of yards and trackage across the state in recent years

Taxes are not the reason the RR's have destroyed yards and trackage across the state, the tax structure on them was changed more than 10 years ago. Your statement was true 15-20 years ago.

NYS has actually been funding rail recently, although maybe not to the extent as Mass.

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/govern ... 0industry.

I was not aware that the extremely onerous nys tax on RR infrastructure has been repealed

Why, then, does Csx continue to actively shrink its NYS footprint by ripping out sidings, passing tracks on the water level route, and yards and parts of yards (Niagara falls, Goodman st Rochester, buffalo area, etc)? I’m curious

IIRC, CSX has long been very good at getting rid of excess capacity and finding themselves stuck and rebuilding later. Also note that unused rail is valuable (I think some of the rail used to rebuild Pan Am came from sidings ripped out elsewhere on CSX's network).

F74265A wrote: ↑Wed May 24, 2023 4:28 pm I was not aware that the extremely onerous nys tax on RR infrastructure has been repealed

Why, then, does Csx continue to actively shrink its NYS footprint by ripping out sidings, passing tracks on the water level route, and yards and parts of yards (Niagara falls, Goodman st Rochester, buffalo area, etc)? I’m curious

Railroad's big and small have done that since the beginning. If you rip it out it doesn't need to be maintained/inspected = less cost.

I’m aware of that general railroad habit but have long been of the impression that it is more zealously applied in nys

Hasn't been - it's all over.