CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

Ultimately, it's going to depend on whether or not the developers make the current owners an offer that's high enough to get them to consider selling (which takes into account the costs of moving to another location). My suspicion is that kind of offer (to the current occupants) will be enough to make the proposed project uneconomical. Then again, I also didn't think Harvard would offer CSX enough to get them to move out of Beacon Park, and clearly I was wrong about that...

Beacon Park didn't make sense for CSX. The yard was too small, and in the wrong place. The Worcester yard makes a lot more sense for CSX operationally. So Beacon Park was basically surplus.

It seems like a portion of the railroad line goes through the red marked areas. The redevelopment would have to take that into account in order for CSX to continue serving QC and Schnitzer (I have little reason to think they wouldn't).

Apparently, the developer already owns the land.

Ultimately the developers will get what they want and everyone else will have to deal with it. And the politicians are in the pockets of the developers. If your gasoline goes up 25% because they have to truck it in from RI then screw you and me.

Exxon ceased using that tank farm at least 18 months ago. If you didn't notice a change in gasoline price from that then, you aren't going to notice it now. https://everettindependent.com/2022/06/ ... tank-farm/

Like it or not, the bigger underlying fundamental trends drive the train, whether for this specific potential Everett re-development activity, Beacon Park, or other past or potential examples.

As metro Boston grows, there's a lot more economic value in using land for housing and modern growing businesses and supporting passenger rail than those activities driving and supporting freight railroad activity. So, like other large growing metropolitan (and even regional) areas, over time we're seeing rail freight activity moving outward and away from Boston to places where land is cheaper.

By their very fundamental nature the Class 1's are long-term planners looking at long-term trends. The New York Central in 1960 and Conrail in 1988 acted upon long-term plans to close Beacon Park. Similarly, CSX is addressing this long-term trend as one strategic benefit of acquiring Pan Am. At that intersection of development and political interests, CSX has and will play their cards toward their own long-term strategic interests.

Of course they were recently awarded a grant to improve the line:

CSX: A $499,000 grant will support the Everett Coke Works Rehabilitation Project, which MassDOT said “will aid the continued use of freight rail service to shippers in Everett and increase both the reliability and volume of freight rail shipments, eliminating 1,350 truck trips annually.”

Excuse my ignorance but what does Schnitzer actually do? Do they receive scrap metal by rail and truck and send it out by ship? Or are they sending scrap metal out by rail to somewhere?

A half million grant to help get the line up out of the mud as well as Schnitzer's, now Radius Recycling, year-old investment into their shredder operation might be good news at least in the shorter run and/or as it might relate to this re-development project. Moving along out to the distant horizon, where the pressures to re-locate likely compound, you really have to wonder.

Everett recycles metals and loads ships for export as does Providence, RI with yards in Worcester, MA; Manchester, NH; and, Portland & Auburn, ME within a nationwide and integrated operation. I believe at this time, generally their rail traffic is inbound into Everett with some limited outbound as well.

I can tell you that the Schnitzer / Radius operation in Portland, whatever they do (if you look at them head-on you see nothing, but from the side you can see a large scrap pile out back), doesn't have rail on-site.

Unmentioned is the one in Concord which is still an active customer.

I also failed to mention Attleboro, MA as a New England yard as well, that along with Auburn ME and the recycling and ship-loading Everett and Providence facilities also has rail capability.

Interesting to what extent, if any, the facilities without rail, like Portland or Manchester, truck to rail-served facilities for transloading, consolidation and rail movement instead of truck-direct within their business, across the variety of metals recycled, and depending upon the destination, including export via Everett v. Providence ports.

Your posts are always informative to me, Mr. QB as I never knew that Providence has a deep-water maritime port:

https://www.provport.com/provport/overview.html

Of course, the Fairfield Navy doesn't have much reason to call there; Point Judith or Newport is more "their liking".

To close back on the rails, does Chessie make rates there or must she divide the Bill with, say, P&W.

Yes, Mr. Norman, she shares with GWI's P&W for Radius/Schnitzer scrap metals traffic moving for export via Providence.

Yes, Mr. QB, it does appear that Chessie has sufficient Radius facilities to get a "kibble or two" into her bowl and that they appear to be on "Timmy's 1:1 Lionel":

https://www.radiusrecycling.com/locations

As close as I ever got as a Fairfield Navy Cadet was "Point Jude".