Due to a severe shortage of rail service and capacity in the Western U.S., we are now taking applications for a third Class I carrier to serve the West. Must have forward thinking management, willing to try out new and innovative ideas. Preference will be given to service in areas now only served by one carrier such as Montana and Southern Idaho. Must be willing to incorporate multimodal services including high-speed freight, Bi-modal technologies, open access, and rail to barge transload where appropriate. Acceptance of private passenger services will be tolerated to a point. Customer service and satisfaction are paramount to employment. Incentives such as tax exemption for right of way and/or land grants will be considered.
Cover letters, applications, and business models should be sent C/O TRAINS.com. Serious inquiries only please.
Talk to DM&E/IC&E it may not be great but it is as close as you can get without some SERIOUS capital investment which is probably not justified by the traffic flows…
I actually DID talk to an officer of DM&E a while back regarding the route choice for the PRB extension. I had always thought they should approach the Basin from the north of the Black Hills instead of south of the Black Hills. This would have allowed them to access both the established mines between Gillette and Bill WY and the newer mines opening up in SE Montana. Not only that, with a northern PRB routing, DM&E would only be about 50 miles away from MRL…
If we could connect DM&E with MRL, and then get the State of Washington to aid in rebuilding the Milwaukee corridor accross the state, we could at least get the third Class I for the Northern Tier states serving the ports of the Puget Sound and getting a new connection for them with NS or CSX in the Midwest.
However, getting down into the lucrative California market would be alot more difficult! There just aren’t any regionals to interconnect together or old rail beds to rebuild to make that happen, so everything would have to be new (and very expensive!)
I would think of it more in terms of how many loaded post Panamx container ships loaded with $1,000 bills it would take. My guess would be several. Bailing out the State of California would be a lot cheaper…
They could get all the way down to Eugene from Portland by purchasing the BNSF main from Portland to Eugene, then if they wanted to they could build a line to the Central Oregon and Pacific that goes from Eugene to just north of Dunsmuir. I see UP Locomotive running on that road all the time, so I know that it can handle a big class one haulage. From their, maybe use Trackage right until then can get to Redding, and connect with the NWP their. That would make for another line through to California. They could also extend from Dunsmuir to Redding themselves as to not have to use the UP tracks.
Brad
The point is this: IF through some miracle the folks at the STB actually grow a collective brain and realize that the mergers of the 1990’s have created a duopoly situation in the West and subsequently created a situation where the inherent ineffeciencies of this duopoly have caused an inability of these railroads to handle the traffic load and have ended up hurting the national economy, then they will understand the need to foster at least one more new carrier in the West to prevent an economic implosion and subsequently will take the necessary action to facilitate this new found wisdom. Therefore, it is assumed that even if UP or BNSF try to buy out this new line, the STB would put the kibosh on that.
Actually, with the tax breaks and land grants, we could get by with only needing about $1 billion in private funding, based on about 500 miles of new trackage at $2 million per mile. The re-aquisition of the ex-Milwaukee right of way through Washington could be accomplished by the right of eminent domain where needed, and the State of Washington owns much of that right of way. So all we need to do is connect the ex-Milwaukee to MRL and connect MRL to DM&E and there it is…
This sounds like a fabulous idea on paper that’s going to fold like origami when it runs into the real world. Most important question is: Where would you get the money? Next question is: Where would you get the traffic? I’m sure that others can make this point a lot better and more thoroughly than I can and I hope that they do.
I’m of the opinion that if and when DM&E completes its foray into the Powder River Basin, then it becomes a particularly attractive takeover target. Canadian National comes to mind first as the most aggressive suitor, Canadian Pacific next, Norfolk Southern third. The latter makes sense because eastern power plants already are receiving shipments of low-sulfur PRB coal via interchange from Union Pacific. Why should NS share the long-haul revenue?
As for a third northern tier transcon, nostagically I’d opt for Milwaukee Road to be resurrected. . .
My pretend railroad could become trans coastal. If you do some look up what railroads are owned by the Genesee and Wyoming and Rail America, it could happen. The cost would be horrible in the short term but if the service can be guarenteed, it could be well worth it.
a new transcon is not necessary, if freight volumes do not justify it. open access would do the same at lower price.
BTW: If BNSF and UP use their duopoly to raise rates above market level, why not start an anti-trust-trial? at the end, BNSF and UP could be forced to grant trackage-rights or
to sell some lines to competitors.
in other businesses, companies like the rockefellers standard oil or the AT&T habe been split up, because they dominated the market to a degree where competition did no more exist. with microsoft, the DoJ tried the same, before the Bush-administration took over.
NS, DM&E, WC,and MILW sounds interesting, goes the right directions, appears to be good geography, a growing market, more than a few pre-existing railway beds, all have good connections East, West, North and South currently or projected, and should be able to find the money. My only reservation would be that there is no one rail executive, construction engineer or company, nor financal institutional leader that I know of today has the vision, immagination, drive, or courage to attempt to even think of attempting such a venture. If there is any such person, I haven’t met them yet.[:-^]
Use the old Millwallkie Road lines and the Old Rock Island lines…Tie them with the Old Erie Laccawanna in the East For a Coast to Coast Railroad…Use the Old Right of ways and Electrify them using Hydro From the Mackensie River in Canada and Wind Power From Nebraska…The Railroad would also own the the Power Company…