CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

Not being out there for 12 hours every trip will have a big effect on staffing. That's just the time on the train. It might be 13 or 14 hours before you get to the hotel.

For road crews, not having to do all the en-route switching with a 12K foot long train will have an impact on staffing.

More than all that, this is a definite sign the new management wants to make some real changes. This place got so bad that any change can only be for the better.

I hope it helps. Southern Maine officially has the lowest unemployment rate in the entire country. The starting wages CSX is offering for jobs based out of Rigby simply aren't competitive with what other employers in the area are offering for jobs with better schedules and less hazardous conditions. If CSX can't or won't up their employee compensation game, at least they can make better use of their existing crews.

Agreed, and the situation is similar in Selkirk, they were having a hard time getting new hires to actually stay.

taracer wrote: ↑Sat Aug 05, 2023 7:42 am They have also relaxed the DP requirements. Under Boychuck, it was a system wide requirement that a certain percentage of originating trains in a terminal had to be DP. So, you would have a 50 car 424 that had to be DP , and all the added time on both ends dealing with the DP just to go 90 miles. Selkirk could not make the call locally to not DP that train, and things like this made every trip a 12-hour deal.

That has changed.

A question if you please: what is DP?

DP is distributed power, a single or multiple locomotives in a train separate from the head end but controlled remotely by the head end.
More info on Wikipedia----------- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_power

Thanks!

https://www.progressiverailroading.com/ ... sed--69870

Good article.

And another...which goes into a little detail about the obstacles they were facing under Boychuk https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews ... g-officer/

Per NS, looks like Voorheesville track and signal work will begin by 1 September.

https://altamontenterprise.com/0821202 ... FjQYAFpTHw

Is it just my reaction, or is the writer of this article far better versed in such matters than we typically see in rail-related news items?

Good news! I look forward to the NS IM rerouting.

But clearance improvements are still needed worc to Ayer as well

They can run the trains single stacked and they'd be no worse off than they are now.

Yes that writer seems very well versed. It also seems more than coincidence that CSX is now allowing the connection after the departure of the aforementioned COO.

NS will probably save 3 to 4 hours running time via Worcester instead of through Greenfield.Once there is clearance for double stack trains ,there will be a huge money saving and even single stack should be much more efficient

Site plan: https://villageofvoorheesville.com/Doc ... hibit-Plan

From the NS letter to the village: “At this time NSR anticipates that revenue train operations using the rehabilitated branch and the rebuilt Voorheesville connection would begin in the 2nd Quarter of 2024.”

Removing 264/264 ops from the "Northern Route" (ie district 3) should also free up scarce PAS crews to help B&E move manifest/grain freight.

One unanswered question is there is no reference to repositioning CSX universal crossover, CP-VO, which at mp QG22.5, is currently just west of the CSX-NS connection to CSX track 2. The next universal crossover east of CP-VO at CP-FB (Feura Bush) is 5.5 miles east at mp QG 17.0 which is the western entry/exit of Selkirk Yard. In the past, CSX trains have on occasion queued up on track 2 west of Selkirk to gain access to the yard so an NS train trying to get on or off CSX track 2 may be delayed. There has been railfan buzz that CP-VO might be moved to be just east of the NS connection to give both RRs more operational flexibility - we shall see!