19 loads handled this week between cmq and vtr. Then 6 local cars for newport industies. Worst traffic week in recent history... Been on a steady decline the last few weeks.
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Vermont Activity and Sightings
- Discussion of present-day CM&Q operations, as well as discussion of predecessors Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA) and Bangor & Aroostook Railroad (BAR).
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Cmq pulled into town approximately 1250 with only 5 loads for VTR, at this rate this could be the worst traffic week in the last two decades continuing the trending decline in traffic in Vermont. Rumors are circulating that VTR may be forced to cut back on service on the con River as CMQ'S request for more service last fall from VTR and empty promises of bigger trains are costing them money at this point to remain trying to run daily service... things may be great across the rest of the system but they are terrible in vt. Quite depressing.... I'm beginning to think that all the loud talk of traffic increase on Connecticut River Line was just a ploy to get Canadian Pacific to lower their rates on D&H. CMQ never really planned on building business down here... and it shows.
Load counts are down due to less lumber coming over CMQ and VTR to Bellows Falls . It is moving CN to St Albans then down to Bellows falls VT from there. I would assume cars for Sherwood Lumber in Bondsville MA are doing the same.
Has any CSX bound traffic formerly routed via CMQ/WACR/VRS/NECR/CSX been routed CMQ/PAR/CSX since the CMQ/PAR D1 haulage agreement?
There wasn't much to begin with so I doubt it, this line hasn't seen much since cmq took over. No train today..
csx2039 wrote:There wasn't much to begin with so I doubt it, this line hasn't seen much since cmq took over. No train today..During MMA days this routing was their CSX connection IIRC. Either it hasn't continued as CMQ and PAR have become a more "friendly" interchange or the traffic simply has gone either CN to Montreal or vanished all together. Very sad.
Carloadings are down nationwide something like ~6% year over year, ex-Intermodal. Not saying the CMQ is/isn't screwing up in VT, just worth remembering.
when MMA had the newport sub it was pretty busy they ran that line 5 days week. I noticed since CMQ took over operations on that line traffic dropped way off. they aint making coustmers very happy on that line epascy Blue Seal in Richford. Hope in the future the Can get the traffic patterns. back on that line or Restablish. The Newport train Crew.
Not to mention thier crappy marketing department doesn't help much either. They hung onto most of the marketing people from mma that the customers can't stand. I also hear cmq is getting very friendly with cp now which will hurt this line even more...
hope they improve Service on the Newport Sub, to get it back to Normal like it was before the CMQ took over, I talked to few People i know who Work For Blue Seal, they said they never seen service this bad before. i heard though hear say that might Newport sub, might get busy again though over head trackage rights. i heard it from person i know who works on The VTR what he told me Pan Am Southern Might be running trackage rights from White River Jct to CN via Farnham another few years.
While I would love to see that happen, I can honestly tell you that it's a little far fetched... there was talk a few years ago about pan am looking into see if there may have been, that has all since faded. As an old track Forman who worked in newport told me years ago summed it up perfectly.... that this line will never be more then a small handful of cars every few days. So far cmq has yet to prove him wrong, and I doubt they ever will...
I also forgot to mention that cmq has gotten rid of the farnham/st Jean CN connection, now having to deal with SLR in Sherbrooke, adding to costs and transit times for local customers using a cn routing, as well as rendering any chance of the traffic potential you previously mentioned moot....
That was not CM&Q's decision.
You can thank EHH, and CP's sale agreement written in 1995. CP holds a paper barrier on all interchange off the old Canadian Atlantic, and EHH decided to start enforcing it, as he did elsewhere.
You can thank EHH, and CP's sale agreement written in 1995. CP holds a paper barrier on all interchange off the old Canadian Atlantic, and EHH decided to start enforcing it, as he did elsewhere.
csx2039 wrote:I also forgot to mention that cmq has gotten rid of the farnham/st Jean CN connection, now having to deal with SLR in Sherbrooke, adding to costs and transit times for local customers using a cn routing, as well as rendering any chance of the traffic potential you previously mentioned moot....This CN connection was lost in 2014 when CMQ received its Cert of Fitness and CP stonewalled them to Iberville. The CN connection at St Rosalie still exists but as Giles was quoted as saying in 2014, isn't used due to poor track conditions of the St-Guillaume Sub.
csx2039 wrote:Not to mention thier crappy marketing department doesn't help much either. They hung onto most of the marketing people from mma that the customers can't stand. I also hear cmq is getting very friendly with cp now which will hurt this line even more...A few things, you were earlier in this thread talking about how things were better in the MMA days so I do have to call you on that now that you are bashing the same MMA marketing folks you indirectly praised. And another thing, I highly doubt you know anyone or anything the marketing folks at CMQ have been working on and once again, as a WHOLE railroad, not the tiny little bit you see, they are doing very well as compared to MMA for a number of reasons (mostly investing in infrastructure). I'm sorry that the portion you see is not doing as well as the entirety, but you have to understand that they are trying to support an entire company. I'd say given the way things ended with MMA you are lucky to have a railroad down there. AND you can't deny that CMQ put some $$ into that line with MOW crews in 2014/2015.
Another thing too for everyone on this thread (yes I'm taking on the world now), it hasn't even been two years for CMQ and they've come quite a ways. A lot of people bashed them in their first few months but clearly had the expectation that running a railroad is easy and can flipped on with a switch. Take a look at where they are now and revisit your previous thoughts. I've (obviously) been pro CMQ since their start and I think they are doing better than anyone else could have done in that position.