I am a member of a local railroad club and recently we heard a rumor from one of our members (who is an engineer out of Grand Rapids to Chicago) that CSX is selling the Ludington subdivision and is leasing the fremont subdivision. I was wondering if anyone had heard anything about this and if so, what shortline(s) were involved with the deal, etc. thanks
There is a thead uabout it on the Michigan railfan forum,to get there click www.michiganrailroads.com/ go to the main railroad forum.
I know for a fact from a well informed CSX employee (and close family member) working for the CSX in Grand Rapids that the Ludington and Fremont subs, along with other CSX branches in Michigan will be leased out (not sold) to one or more shortline operators starting sometime between July and October of this year. This CSX employee has not yet been informed of the identity of the operator(s) that will be taking over these lines. That information was scheduled to be released about a week ago, but has not been at this time.
On an interesting side note, a couple of weekends ago CP Rail ran a job ad for conductors and engineers that they were recruiting for Elkhart, IN in the Grand Rapids Press news paper. That only reinforces CP’s strategy of shifting their Michigan traffic over CSX to the NS lines through Indiana, as the ad was surely aimed at a lot of potentially soon-to-be-unemployed CSX T & E crew members. I will update you further when I have additional information on the companies concerned.
i was also informed to part of your sidenote about CP shifting the traffic by the fellow club member who believes he will be moving out of Grand Rapids because everyone on the leased subs has very high seniority but probably wont retire. He heard also that CP will probably be shifting its traffic all at once through indiana instead of gradually phasing it out of the western michigan area.
I was looking for information on this topic this morning and there is an article in todays Grand Rapids Press about it and it involved the Marquette Rail Corporation getting the Ludington sub, and the Michigan shore Railroad gets the Fremont Sub
Yes, I just finished reading the article (after my original post on this topic). The article is available online at http://www.mlive.com/business/grpress/index.ssf?/base/business-3/1119969910313830.xml .
The key points of the article ar that the Ludington Sub will go to the Marquette Rail Corporation (a partnership of Progressive Rail Corp., Lake States Railway, Farm Rail Systems and TranSolutions, Inc.) and the Fremont Sub will tenativley go to the Michigan Shore Railroad (a Muskegon MI-based RailAmerica subsidiary).
Well, good to hear the news from “across the pond”! Guess another road trip will be in order in the future…
-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com
Leasing or selling off all the trackage around Grand Rapids equals many people needing to go somewhere else to work. Having very low seniority, this scares me quite a bit.
How many trains currently move on line from Chicago to Grand Rapids?
The line comes into the NS at Porter and at one time had quite a bit of traffic. I read somewhere that CP had 8 trains per day scheduled on that line. What about CSX?
Looking at the CSX map, I assume their auto traffic and their Detroit/Chicago traffic is already moving via Toledo to Deshler and then making a right hand turn.
So, how much stuff moves from western Michigan down to Chicago? A couple of trains a day?
Guess I had better go to Porter and get a couple of pictures while I can.
Times, they are a changin.
ed
Hmm…is CP a decent outfit to work for? Could be an improvement
From what I saw of CP in Bensenville, IL I would work for CP in a flash. The yard was immaculate, I could actually walk around without tripping on scrap iron, ties, brake shoes, etc. The engines, even the older ones are in much better shape than my employer’s. The crew room, locker room, offices, faciilites, etc. were also very nice. I was impressed overall.
See June 30 News Wire.
I know they will lease the tracks but does that mean I will see less trains??
I like seeing CSX trains. If all I see are CP trains, I might as well move[V][V][V]
Note that the News Wire article also mentions that the Saginaw to Mount Morris line will likely be leased or sold to Lake States Railway in addition to the other previously announced transactions.
Does CP run the Expressway trailer trains to Chicago yet? Might see them on NS if they do.
I’m currently working for CSX at Manistee. Kind of hoped the Ludington, Muskegon and Manistee jobs would be around for awhile. Also President of the S.S. City of Milwaukee NHL, a former GTW railroad carferry (www.carferry.com) docked at Manistee. So far we haven’t heard anything “official” on company letterhead, but the GR Press article spells it out. CP is good, with the exception of GE widebodys w/o air conditioning. Sauna on wheels in Chicago summers.
i am back from a vacation so i can respond to some of this. i am guessing that probably 6-7 trains run through right now, maybe more, but i will start paying more attention tomorrow since i have some time to kill.
on a separate note, while i was talking to the guy from the railroad club, he mentioned that CSX might be interested in selling all of its stuff in michigan including the line to west olive for the coal power plant.
in response to n_stephenson- there are 35 people moving out of the ludington and fremont subs, probably to grand rapids where people will be out of a job and moving elsewhere.