CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

This isn't new news - it was explicitly stated in CSX's application from day 1 that they were planning doing this.

Timmy kept them around on paper to be used for his complicated legal spiderweb. It offered him ease and set up a beautiful strategic way of scaling back the RR if need be.

I thought the Commonwealth had the rights to take over dispatching on any track they owned whenever they wanted?

That statement is exactly why the B&M wrote up the contract. So their freights wouldn't be held hostage and to avoid any funny business.

Given Massachusetts past bait and switch tactics with CSX on the B&A, and gimme gimmie demands It's no wonder why CSX wants to remain in control. Massachusetts has become rather a bully in the last decade with wanting to be the dominant rail entity in the state. If they played well with others this wouldn't be a huge threat.

Ayer Hill yard East wye to Willows could become a chokepoint. It has resulted in conflicts in the past, I assume it will continue in the future. The only solution is a flyover which will never happen in my lifetime or anybody else's on this board.

I doubt that. Not only will the NS jobs be coming into the Hill yard from the West/South end within a year, but CSX is not going to be stopping in Ayer on their manifests. Right now you have the NS intermodals pulling in on a manual throw west wye and backing in on the east wye. Then you have the Ayer to Portland jobs strung out on the mainline for 20 minutes pulling out or into the yard at a pathetic 5 mph. If anything, things will be more fluid in the near future.

B&M was 4 track main from the Willows into downtown Ayer. One can still see today where the two ' other' mains stood. I don't know the particulars of the val maps for it, but can easily get that info.
Ayer is going to be a royal P.I.T.A for CSX no doubt about it.

GTIKING wrote: ↑Mon Mar 07, 2022 11:22 pm Dispatching was discussed in the hearing. CSX stated they're moving it to Jacksonville to minimize disruptions. CSX also said it plans to have 2 TOMs physically on site of Mass Dots new dispatching center being constructed. Off record this is to ensure CSXs trains run on time. What many do not know is the ironclad dispatching and freight rights agreement CSX has obtained via B&M Corp. This was done up as a condition during B&Ms sale of lines to the Commonwealth in the 70s. Csx is planning to dissolve the B&M along with 6 other Systems subsidiaries as stated in the filings. It will be interesting how the B&M Corp dispatching/rights is transferred and tailored for CSXTs needs.

CSXT agreed to keep dispatching of at least passenger territory at Billerica in perpetuity. Furthermore they are keeping all of PAR there for the immediate future though I suspect it will move south as the integration proceeds.

Massachusetts had enough foresight in the freight-favorable agreement that they agreed to B&M dispatching state-owned (MBTA) property so long as said dispatching remained in the state. Considering Pan Am currently only has 3 dispatching districts, of which 2 are commonly combined into 1 desk, keeping 2 of 3 desks in Billerica doesn't really constitute moving the dispatching.

By the way, the TOMs have been gone for a while - almost 10 years I think? They are ATDA dispatchers now.

Thinking aloud here.
CSX/Mellon may have found a loophole around this by keeping two CSX employees in the Mass Dot dispatching building. I don't think it's a wild coincidence that the agreement calls for two dispatchers in state and CSX saying they're putting two employees up here to monitor the T territory. These two employees act as a legal extension of the Dispatching agreement in state with their physical presence and bam 'JA dispatcher calling Keolis 207 over'.
We're dealing with Mellon here. He exploits everything, so this would not suprise me.

It's not going to work like that. The computers will be there, the dispatchers and the chiefs will be there. That's where the dispatching will be.

Unknown yet what presence will continue across the street in the old B&M offices, but likely there will be some regional presence there. It offers training space, clerk space, management office space, the Police department, etc and so on.

Newpy's right, the actual dispatching needs to be done in state. That's why CSX is keeping 2 desks there - presumably Districts 2 and 3. And to be clear it doesn't require any particular number of dispatchers, just that the MBTA lines owned by the state be dispatched in the state. As I've stated before I wouldn't be surprised if this extends to the now MassDOT-owned Conn River as well. CSX can certainly re-district or re-arrange their dispatching desks such that all the commuter territory was handled by a single desk if they desired. Westminster to Plaistow is less than about 65 miles, and the Conn River is 50.

Since the Conn River is part of PAS (AKA District 3), I suspect everything will be kept as it is - District 3 will end up being paid for by PAS (probably directly), keeping things simpler for the accountants and payroll. It's not like the commuter lines will be travelling across the PAR/PAS dispatching boundary - they'll either be going MBTA/PAR (Lowell and Haverhill) or MBTA/PAS (Fitchburg). They won't talk to all three on a single run unless a new commuter line gets created running directly between Ayer and Lowell before heading into Boston.

I think it has to be kept the way it is (B&E will dispatch it) as the dispatching and freight rights were conveyed to PAS from MassDOT. From the original STB filing:

PAS perpetual sole freight carrier
PAS retains dispatching (subject to change if performance not met)
PAS retains maintenance (subject to change if performance not met)

Full transcript of the January hearing is now available:

Day 1: https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 304112.pdf

Day 2: https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 304113.pdf