Southern Tier Line before, during and after Conrail

Okay,
let's pick up where we left off.............

I asked this before the old thread was shortly locked, hopefully it will fly on this thread, if not I'll make a new thread I guess.

West of Hornell, one could argue that the WNYP has been quite aggresive with its marketing strategy to land new customers.

Can the same be said of the Susie Q? Or is the disprportinately less to begin with than the WNYP had?

Does the Susie Q have a good track record of winning business back to rails that has been lost due to poor customer service in the same manner as WNYP?

Thoughts?

Brooks

I don't see much rail business available along that line from east of Binghamton to Port Jervis. The lease is probably more of a labor and tax cost reduction move as discussed previously. The CNY RR will most likely be asking the states of NY and PA for support in the not too distant future.
Don't forget, the NS was previously the creator of Dereco, which included this same property.

The first tidewater to Great Lakes railway line would have never been built along this route anyway had it not been for NY politics. The water level route (as later assembled by Vanderbilt) offered much easier construction but that was politically unacceptable since that route had the Erie Canal.

IMO, NYSW will find business if it suits them, as they did with Suit-Kote in Cortland and the garbage hauls. It appears there is little to no traffic on line. Would be interesting to see if there is enough TOFC from Syracuse, Utica or Binghamton to make a short block of TOFC down the tier but I doubt it. Maybe TOFC from the northern NJ can be brought to NS at Binghamton?

More importantly here is I think Walter Rich wants access to the property for his political clout to assure the installation of the power line from Utica to NYC. This eyesore would destroy the Chenango and Delaware valleys from an aesthetic standpoint and could meet lots of resistance. The only value to NYSW with the Utica side ROW is in leasing utlity rights.

Make no mistake, WR is as dialed into NY politics as anyone. IMHO, this move is to get the line of the tax rolls a la WNYP and to facilitate WR making mega bucks on the real estate with the power line.

A power line along the rail line would follow a very meandering route which starts in NY then enters and leaves PA twice before ending in Port Jervis. Power lines follow as staight a line as possible with little concern for topography.

Google the term: Niagara Reinforcement Project or Pegasus Power and you will see the plans for the line.

Plans have been filed with NYS to construct the line.

It appears that they think they can bury the line, a method never used for such a high voltage transmission line. This will be very interesting. It appears that the original topic of the NS lease to CNYRR was not even close to being exhausted!

http://www.riverreporter.com/issues/03- ... egasus.htm

...is presently scarce but there could be some developed. I don't know what can be brought out of Deposit, but there are 2 or 3 possiblities; Susquehanna wants a team track through the County Rail Authority; Hancock awaits new industry. What is PJ's status? NS or CNY?

The lease agreement filed does NOT give the CNY the authority to have an electric utility company install a power line along the ROW. It actually prohibits it.

NS retains for itself the rights for any power line.

The value of this property as a rail line seems minimal, as evidenced by NS leasing the rights to the track for $1/year. NS really doesn't want the railroad line but realizes that it is a valuable right of way. NYSW needs the line right now, but doesn't want to own it. Create a new entity (CNY RR) to take the liability and probably flip the railroad (but not the rights to use the right of way for communication, power, or gas lines) to some bi state agency wants to keep the tracks in place.

In a way, this is NYSW's version of Dereco. NS gets out of paying the taxes but keeps the ROW potential. NYSW gets to control the line without having to own it. CNY RR can always go bankrupt.

There are a lot of palms to be greased before any cable gets laid, but this is a very clever plan.

Question: who owns the line from PJ to Jersey City?

In light of the circumstances with regards to the accident in South Carolina maybe the idea of making the Tier into "dark" territory should
be reconsidered. Switches against trains can spell big trouble. I question
the wisdom of removing assets that are currently in place. I know that
there is a financial issue here, but......
what price safety.
Do the unions have a say here.

STEAM ON
/--OOO-;-oo--oo-

s4ny wrote: Question: who owns the line from PJ to Jersey City?

From CP Sparrow to the System Post located west of Suffern, the line is currently owned by NS but leased to Metro North. As I recall there is an expectation that Metro North will eventually own the line. Metro North provides for the maintenance on the line. NS continues to operate local freight service. NJ TRANSIT operates passenger service here on behalf of Metro North. Service has grown considerably in the past few years and now totals 26 trips per weekday. NJ TRANSIT dispatches the line from Port Jervis east.

NJ TRANSIT owns the line east of the System Post. NS has trackage rights to operate freight. "Through" freight would have to exit from the line (called the Bergen County Line at this point) at HX interlocking and enter NS' Croxton Yard.

It appears that the original topic of the NS lease to CNYRR was not even close to being exhausted!

I think that little jab was a bit unfair. Otto stated his reasons and it has been discussed and debated.

I think that little jab was a bit unfair. Otto stated his reasons and it has been discussed and debated.

Ditto,
Let's let sleeping dogs lie...............I'm a mod too, and we can't always please everyone.

Next thing:

Now that D&H has relinquished trackage rights between Bingo and Buffalo, how many trains are running daily between these two cities? Is NS running this freight via haulage rights? Is it even worth fanning this line nowadays just to see a couple trains?

Only thing that has changed between Bing and Buff is the removal of the 30/31T. CP is still operating their trains on a daily basis and will continue to do so until spring (March, I think). From what I'm hearing/reading, NS will crew the trains but CP will continue to power them. So if that turns out to be true, it looks like the Tier wont be all black Dash9's.