At locations where the EJ&E crosses a Metra line (east Joliet comes to mind where the J crosses the old Rock Island line) who is going to have the right of way or is it already established in spite of the trains increase on the J?
I think Metra will continue have the right of way.
Ya, I assume that’s what will happen. HA Ha HA! A Commuter railroad controlling a massive Class1 MWAHAHAHAH!!! Ok… Now back to the real world.
I’ll assume your knowledge concerning Metra and the Class 1s is limited.
First, the usual rule at crossings follows the principle of “First in time, first in right”, which means that the first railroad there - the “senior” one - should not be adversely affected by the 2nd one there - the “junior” road. Thus, the junior road has to pay to build, install, maintain, and upgrade the crossing, and the senior road’s trains nevertheless get priority through the interlocking. So, a senior road switcher could - in theory - have priority over a junior road passenger train.
Second, in mergers and acquisitions, the acquiring railroad “steps into the shoes” of the acquired road = inherits the same rights and responsibilities. So in theory, which one has priority is already established and would not change.
That said, for about a century now these arrangements have been regulated by the state public utility or railroad commissions, and are subject to modification by agreement between the railroads themselves. So it really needs to be looked at on a case-by-case basis.
In some circumstances it would reasonable for an agreement to place a cap on the number of trains or tonnage from each railroad - or in METRA’s case, hours of operation - at least to have a “reopener clause” to revisit the cost allocations if the traffic volumes get turned upside down.
Then there’s the practical “Golden Rule” - “He who has the gold, makes the rules”. In this case, if METRA or the CREATE project shows up with money for a crossing upgrade but also wants to renegotiate the priority and other arrangements at the crossing, some negotiations to that effect are likely to occur.
Finally, take a look at the STB filings for the EJ&E acquisition. This is probably addressed on a crossing-by-crossing basis somewhere deep inside those.
- Paul North.