Editor’s Note: The Surface Transportation Board is conducting an in-person hearing April 26-27 (EP 770, Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service) with the CEOs of the “Big Four” Class I railroads—BNSF, CSX, Norfolk
At this writing, Amtrak is preparing to present its case to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) disputing the amount of new infrastructure that potential host railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern claim must
Editor’s Note: The Surface Transportation Board is conducting an in-person hearing April 26-27 (EP 770, Urgent Issues in Freight Rail Service) with the CEOs of the “Big Four” Class I railroads—BNSF, CSX,
The “Second Battle of Mobile” is in full swing. Prospective host railroads CSX and Norfolk Southern, along with the Port of Mobile, are in a hearted dispute with Amtrak at the Surface Transportation Board (STB) about how much infrastructure must be built between New Orleans and Mobile before Amtrak will be allowed to run two daily round trips between those cities.
All five Surface Transportation Board members on April 14 signed off on CSX’s proposal to acquire Pan Am Systems, Inc., and its short line railroad subsidiaries, effective May 14.
Joining organizations like the National Grain and Feed Association, the Sweetener Users Association (SUA) has a sent a letter to the Surface Transportation Board demanding that railroads take their lumps for service problems.
The National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) on March 24 sent a letter to Surface Transportation Board Chairman Marty Oberman complaining, on behalf of its members, about what it calls “a network problem affecting entire regions of the country.”
The battle between Amtrak and potential host railroads CSX and NS, joined by the Port of Mobile, entered a new stage April 4, as the first witnesses began their appearances before the Surface Transportation Board (STB) in the first case that will decide how and on what conditions Amtrak will be allowed to initiate new passenger service. The entire afternoon and the start of proceedings on April 5 featured a single witness. There was only one more during that day’s 8½-hour session, and only one other on April 6. April 5’s morning’s events featured a skirmish within the principal battle: a mini-slug-out in which both sides can claim victory, but CSX may have been the bigger winner.
Call it a “Marty Party” scheduled for April 26-27 at which CEOs of the four largest U.S.-headquartered railroads will be placed as frogs on a lily pad in a lake of pain to be grilled as suspects in the offense of failing to provide adequate service to shippers.
As the evidentiary hearing regarding the reintroduction and expansion of Amtrak passenger train service between New Orleans and Mobile continues before the Surface Transportation Board, interesting operational cost-sharing questions have emerged regarding how Amtrak trains may be able to coexist with very long CSX freights.
