Dose anyone know?
I have no specific idea, however, I suspect if you follow the money from all the line segments that CSX has sold or leased off to short line operators the trail will eventually end up at 500 Water St. in Jacksonville. Most of the ‘short line’ sales that the Class I’s are making are being done for one reason…keep the revenue from the line flowing without incuring the labor expense required by the Class I’s labor agreements. ‘Sell’ the line and let the Short Line offer substandard pay and work rules as compared to those in effect on Class I properties.
The interesting thing is that most of what you say may have originally been true in a lot of places and no longer is. No doubt ther Class 1s primary reason for wanting to sell is to keep the traffic. Beyond that, there are a number of reasons to sell or lease. Labor costs are one reason, but that ship has largely sailed. Condition of the ROW and structures is another larger problem these days as is lack of traffic density.
Labor costs have largely equalized as Class 1s have come down to the same 2 or 3 man crews used by the short lines. As to operating rules, most short lines these days are governed by one of the same sets of operating rules used by the Class 1s. NORAC and GCOR are both in use depending upon where in the country the line is located. Pay and benefits are a trade off, like working for any other employer. In some cases short lines have better benefits than the Class 1s. For example, as Class 1s have backed away from carrying the entire health insurance costs of their employees (like most non-RR businesses did years ago), many short lines have maintained 100% payment for the coverage. The other major trade off is the hours and working conditions. Most smaller short lines are still small “family” type businesses. Hours are often five days per week or less and call times are more human. After all, on the average sh
I know they own part of Indiana railroad. Does anyone know of any others? John
CSX owns 85% of Indiana Rail Road. They also own a portion of Paducah and Louisville and Evansville Western. Of these 3 only the Evansville Western is former CSX trackage.
Soo6049
Can you expand on this thought a little please?
CSX might own part of the Louisville and Indiana Railroad. The Evansville Western Railway and the Appalachian and Ohio Railroad are owned by CSX and the Paducah and Louisville.
I think CSX also owns a portion of the Indiana Harbor Belt.
Murph -
If you have the Feb 2008 TRAINS that I just got, check out Roy Blanchard’s article on Independent Short Lines starting on page 8. Not all encompassing but it should give you a starting point.
LC
I’ll have to watch my mailbox. My poor mailman looks about half dead from the Christmas rush. I think the poor guy needs a vacation.[xx(]
Basically, there are a number of deals that have happened including DM&E, EJ&E (working now) and CN acquiring the steel roads (DM&IR, B&LE, etc), the Alberta Short Lines (Tar Sands) and some additional acquisitions Roy doesn’t mention (reacquisition of CC&P by IC, certain UP reacquisitions of RailAmerica properties) that show a trend towards Class 1s acquiring short lines due to routes or traffic needs and also the continued acquisition of independent short lines by Short Line Groups such as RA and G&W.
I don’t entirely agree with Roy’s analysis of the trend, but he has a point in that the number of independents is continuing to shrink.
LC
It was a fine, yet (in my opinion) brief article. It mentions the possibilities of new regulations making operating costs on a shortline more comparible to Class Ones. Is that new legislation coming into being, or things that are just being talked about at this point?