P&W autoracks in Providence

[QB 52.32]

Autoracks are managed through a pooling arrangement managed by the AAR, IIRC, and, therefore, move freely around N. America according to supply and demand and without regard to ownership. The P&W purchased ~200 used autoracks to contribute and participate in the pool. One other interesting aspect of autoracks is that in some cases the flatcar is owned by TTX while the rack is owned seperately by the railroad, though probably not the case for the P&W's cars.

[QB 52.32]

As a follow-up to my above post, I received a PM from someone in the industry that clarified the details of the N American autorack pooling arrangement. TTX manages the pool with input from auto shippers and 10 participating railroads, though ownership is not limited to TTX cars (like the P&W's), saving over 1 billion annual empty miles. The AAR provides legal, technical & administrative support to the program.

[mental757]

The port of Quonset (Davisville) has become one of the larger auto importer-ports (as mentioned by others here already) in the U.S. They also send used autos outbound to be used in developing countries, so some of the autoracks do come back to RI with product onboard. If you search the Providence Journal website, you'll find several articles about the expanding port operations at Quonset and the auto import operation. RI upgraded the freight track from the port to the switch up in Central Falls a few years ago to allow P&W to be able to handle double-stacked and autoracks.

P&W might be in for some more port business as Quonset is trying to position itself for wind turbine construction and also short-sea shipping (containers).

[frrc]

Wasn't work done on the Gardner branch to allow double stacks or auto racks to travel on that route? I recall tracks were lowered about a year or two ago in Holden and other towns on the route.

[QB 52.32]

Yes, frrc, the P&W did clear their Gardner branch back in the Fall of '08, IIRC, for fully enclosed autoracks and high-cube/low-cube doublestacked container combos. I believe they funded this work with money provided by GATX's buy-in ownership stake.

The vast majority of money to support Davisville's rail-based auto/potential container traffic, also for fully enclosed autoracks and high-cube/low-cube container doublestack, has come from taxpayers, and, specifically U.S. taxpayers: $145 million from the Feds.; $51 million from RI; up to $5.5 million from MA; and, for the Bellows Falls tunnel potentially-related part of the project: $2 million from the Feds. and $ .7 million from VT. About $ 200 million all totalled.

Looks to me that they're doing about 30-40 carloads of inbound autos each week for distribution into New England...haven't seen evidence that they're loading outbound traffic at this point.

Can't see short-sea (by the seashore?) shipping offering much, if any, business potential since that simply represents a local distribution alternative to highway or rail from the larger ports of call, presumably NY/NJ or Halifax.

[RDG467]

I saw 2 P&W racks in San Diego back in November, but didn't get a pic before the cars moved......