Will CPKC ever us their trackage rights from Albany to Philadelphia again?
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Will CPKC ever us their trackage rights from Albany to Philadelphia again?
#1643003byTrainTrackToby
With the new formation of the CPKC railway and the addition of many cities in the lower half of north America more opportunities for train routes arise. A key factor in this can be the most populous city in America: NYC. CPKC has access to this city and many other along the northeast megalopolis including Philadelphia, Trenton, and Newark. But there is a catch CPKC hasn't used these trackage rights for a decade. The route from Philadelphia to Albany remains on the official map. If this route can be used to it full extent one could only image the many trains and shipping routes sprouting from this endeavor. Access to Port Newark can bring many container trains. Access to the many chemical plants in NJ and Philadelphia can bring trains to and from refineries and Canadian farmlands.The question is wether or not CPKC will make the right choice of investing in this route or setting it aside and focusing on their Mexico-Canada mainline.
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Re: Will CPKC ever us their trackage rights from Albany to Philadelphia again?
#1643013byNHV 669
There is ZERO rhyme or reason for CPKC to "invest" in a line they have no ownership of, especially when they filed to give up their trackage rights between Binghamton and Allentown to access NY/NJ from the west back in 2015 due to a lack of existing traffic. There is no "setting aside", it's already happened lol... they stopped running their own trains to the Bronx for a reason.
D&H 416/417 were only 3x a week as far back as 2008, as noted on this site, and completely gone by the end of 2010. There's little reason to justify running <30 cars 150+ miles over someone else's track.
You're sorely overestimating the "potential" for CPKC here; if it existed, they would still be hauling the cars themselves instead of paying CSX to haul what minimal traffic exists to/from Selkirk on M433/434 and M701/702. I don't think you understand how trackage rights exist either... access to the lines doesn't mean the ability to serve CSAO customers. Forget about IM traffic...
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Re: Will CPKC ever us their trackage rights from Albany to Philadelphia again?
#1643020byTrainTrackToby
OK fair if they dont own the line I suppose there would be no need to invest in it.
The binghampton and allentown line is a completely Diffrent entity thats the ns frieght main line im refering to the csx river line wich they do have trackage rights on.
Also that was a decade ago and the market economy and Canadian Pacific as a whole has changed greatly.
They stopped running trains to the bronx becuase it doesnt have much frieght traffic to begin with wich is why csx doesnt run many trains
Im not talking about manifest traffic as I didnt mention it above.
Theres plenty of vacant intermodal faciltys in nj like little ferry and erail just to name a few that cpkc could aqquire.
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Re: Will CPKC ever us their trackage rights from Albany to Philadelphia again?
#1643022byNHV 669
Before it was NS, it was Conrail; as I pointed out above, the D&H under CP held trackage rights over that line until 2015 when they gave it up due to a lack of traffic as filed with the STB. You do realize that, right?
Given CP ownership of the D&H through Binghamton, it was more direct than having to go all the way up to Albany to come back down along the river. Those small mixed freights were the only traffic moving at the end of 416/417; there was no IM traffic, so that's an entirely moot point. The Bronx has enough traffic for CSXT to run two train pairs, so that claim is false...
2010 was close to 15 years ago, and as far as traffic, nothing has changed; there's clearly not enough carloads to warrant CPKC running their own service down there, when they can simply have CSX haul their cars in exchange for them hauling CSXT traffic north of Selkirk as they do now.
CPKC is not going to acquire an already unused facility along someone else's line, nor pay trackage fees to move solely low margin unit intermodal trains 150+ miles over a competitor's track. That's just plain silly, and a complete non starter lol... There's a good reason none of this is happening.
Avatar: NHV 669 at the south end of the "Pompy" in White River Jct., VT on 4/29/1993. Photo by Richard Roberg.
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Re: Will CPKC ever us their trackage rights from Albany to Philadelphia again?
#1643062byTrainTrackToby
Do you realize that was a decade ago?
The bronx train are mostly trash and a very small amount of manifest so its really not that much and they only run one pair a day.
CSX isnt a fierce competitor as they recently made a partnership to run intermodals over the meridian speedway.
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Re: Will CPKC ever us their trackage rights from Albany to Philadelphia again?
#1643063byRandallW
Two railroads can be fierce competitors in one corridor and complete partners in another corridor.
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Re: Will CPKC ever us their trackage rights from Albany to Philadelphia again?
#1643064byTrainTrackToby
I suppose but it woulnt hurt realtionships between the 2 railroads
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Re: Will CPKC ever us their trackage rights from Albany to Philadelphia again?
#1643078byNHV 669
TrainTrackToby wrote: ↑Sat Apr 27, 2024 10:41 amDo you realize that was a decade ago?
The bronx train are mostly trash and a very small amount of manifest so its really not that much and they only run one pair a day.
CSX isnt a fierce competitor as they recently made a partnership to run intermodals over the meridian speedway.
Yes, I'm very well aware, considering I've acknowledged it several times lol...
I mistakenly confused the Oak Island pair with the pair to Oak Point, that's on me. Yes, clearly not enough traffic to warrant CP running their own service down there, as I also acknowledged above more than once.
Of course they have partnerships with competitors as I already noted above with the arrangement to haul CSX traffic to points north of Selkirk; the Meridian Speedway itself is a partnership with a competitor... the CSXT trains are overhead traffic, not originating on CPKC track.
None of that changes the fact that CPKC has no interest in serving points south of their current territory north of Albany; they literally spelled that out by ending their standalone Bronx Express service and D&H legacy track rights via Allentown as noted above...
They're not going to set up an intermodal terminal in territory they only have track rights to, and definitely not on the NYSW where they have no rights; end of story.
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Re: Will CPKC ever us their trackage rights from Albany to Philadelphia again?
#1643149byCPF66
I could be entirely wrong here, but Philadelphia was tapped by CP about the time the container port at Boston flopped, and it was CP's way to finally get an Atlantic port again. However the traffic levels never really reached what they were projected to be. Additionally it makes zero sense for CPKC to use those trackage rights, when they are already servicing (sort of) the Port of Saint John which took Philadelphia's role.
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