As we know both CSX & NS are expanding or building new intermodal faciolities.
CSX is already expanding the North Baltimore facility. A contractor informed me today that the CSX intermodal terminal in Fairburn, Ga. is in the process of doubling its size… Costruction is on the west side of the present track towards the main line & US29. The tracks are going onto what was originally the storage parking. Was told that unit parking now is very tight with temporary parking between the rails. Pickups and deliveries to the trains is now only by yard dogs that carry units to entrance when driver arrives.
There is still some land on the east side going next to I-85 but I have no idea exactly what construction is proceeding ? There is an Owens Corning insulation plant between the yard and and main line of the A&WP sub at the south end of the yard. This plant is switched daily with 20 - 30 cars a day both box cars and tank cars by a switcher parked at the plant…
This IM yard handles over 1/2 of the Atlanta intermodals with Hulsey yard on the old GA RR handling most of the rest… The yard has almost all BNSF & UP run thrus terminating / originating at Fairburm yard. but other yard may be used due to congestion.
What other expansions of intermodal is CSX doing ?
Intermodal has a big future on the St. Lawrence Subdivision between Syracuse and Massena NY. They’re currently building a intermodal yard across the border in Valleyfield Quebec that is costing them over 100 million dollars and can handle 100,000 containers per year.
And they’ve been investing millions in repairs and upgrades to get the line up to par after years of neglect by CSX and Conrail before it and several periods where it was even up for sale. In fact they even had permission to reroute all through traffic over to the Delaware & Hudson and were just days away from implementing that plan when they secured a major intermodal deal that changed the entire outlook of this line from one to be disposed of to one with a bright future several years back.
Now they seem to be reliably able to get a train across the entire line with a single crew instead of always needing two, speeds are up considerably and actually can make it difficult to catch and pass a train on US Route 11 if you’re a railfan, and their frequency is up significantly.
And this is just the early stages and the intermodal yard just had its groundbreaking ceremony two months ago. And Alcoa is supposedly going to be reinvesting via a major modernization project in their Massena aluminum plants which i believe was another factor in this line doing a 180 that now has CSX viewing it as an asset.
I was speaking with a NY state official earlier this year who indicated that speeds on the St Lawrence sub (down to 25 MPH for most of the line until the recent extensive upgrades) may move beyond 40 MPH to 50 MPH. Based on other conversations, that may be a while yet, but doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility. NYC ran the line at 50 MPH, I’ve been told.
The reason is totally the intermodal facility in Valleyfield, although the Alcoa angle has been a factor in increased traffic over the past year or so. Stacks are seen regularly on the line now.
As Leo notes, CSX has been trying to sell off the line for years. To put the time and effort into restoring it to it’s former “glory” now certainly indicates a brighter future.
Was just wondering, where does one go to get figures on intermodal lifts–either capacity-wise or actual lift numbers–anyway? Kinda curious, think it’s a good figure to get a sense of where the commerce is a-flowin’.
Not that many years ago CSX built a large intermodal yard on the south east side of Chambersburg, Pa next to the old Western Maryland line. It is near big the Orchard park industrial park on the south side of town. They still have plenty of land if they wanted to expand the facility. The industrial park hasnumerosu large warhouses includign a Staples distribution center.
With the partial completion of CSX’s National Gateway project - Double-stacks can now operate in and out of Chambersburg. I suspect the facility was built intending to handle 9000 foot double-stack trains (it has been handling 9000 foot single stack trains) If and when the facility begins to operate at near capacity with double-stack operations then expansion will be warrented.
Yes, with south central Pennsylvania being a major hub for trucks with the Norfoldk Southern lines going in all 4 directions just 30 miles away and CSX connecting to them i expect this will occur in the near future.
In Fairburn , There are still 6 Ramp Tracks , the expansion is to the East of the Ramp Tracks in an area between the Ramp and Original Storage yard . A new Locomotive Fuel Track is being built on the South End as well as a new RiP track . This is what they are referring to as Stage one mostly to Handle the increased BNSF traffic and the eventual shut down of Hulsey in 2018 when additional expansion is planed
Customers dictate the services they need and are willing to pay for. East of the Mississippi the commercial areas (cities) are in many cases within a single truck drivers daily driving time that is allowed by law. By constrast, West of the Mississippi the commercial area are less numerous and further apart, limiting cost/time effective truck competition. Additionally, the Western carriers service the Pacific Rim import container business - bringing the containers from the Pacific ports to the Eastern market areas. While containers are imported through Atlantic ports the volume is limited compared to the Pacific ports (We trade more with Asian countries than European countries at present).
As truckers are experienceing reduced driving time allowed by law as well as a job market were potential employees don’t desire the working conditions of ‘over the road’ trucking, the industries ability to put drivers in trucks and haul loads is diminishing. This is creating additional opportunities for Eastern Carriers with ‘short haul’ intermodal service.
It is not that Eastern carriers are behind Western carriers - it is that each has different market segment they can sell their services to.
The eastern railroads have a much more difficult task because of their shorter lengths of haul.
On a shipment the railroad will have higher terminal costs than a trucker. But the rail line haul costs will be lower. When there are enough miles of the lower cost line haul rail to overcome the terminal costs disadvantage, intermodal becomes the most cost efficient option.
The eastern railroads can’t do anything about the miles, so they have to work the problem by reducing their terminal and line haul costs. We
One thing I think I am seeing from both Eastern and Western carriers are plans to minimize the rubber tire interchange that has been taking place at Chicago since the word intermodal was invented. With all the fallen flag carriers that inhabited Chicago in days gone by, steel wheel interchange was totally inefficient since there weren’t sufficient traffic volumes between the carriers to warrant it. Now that there are only 4 major East-West and one North-South player, terminals can be developed ‘outside Chicago’ that permit aggregating a carriers shipments for another carrier and facilitating the delivery of trainloads to the connecting carriers on steel wheels; freeing up terminal space in Chicago for those shipments that require drayage to the customer from Chicago.
CSX announced plans for an intermodal yard just outside of Pittsburgh in McKees Rocks, PA. The site was formerly a PL&E yard under the McKees Rocks bridge. It has a projected cost of some $50 million dollars and they plan to start construction in 1215. They have been working on tracks here for a couple of years to prepare for twin stacks.
EDIT: I should have mentioned that this new intermodal yard would be the only one between Cleveland, Ohio & Chambersbug, PA.