STB Asked to OK Sale of Rail Line to NS

Norfolk Southern has filed with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board an application for regulatory approval of its proposed purchase of the Cincinnati Southern Railway from the City of Cincinnati.

The line runs between Cincinnati and Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is presently leased by NS from the city. NS and the city have agreed on a purchase price of $1.62 billion for the 338-mile line.

The sale has been approved by the City of Cincinnati and the governing board of the CSR, but still needs approval from the voters of Cincinnati. The earliest the latter could occur is this November.

The CSR route hosts about 30 NS trains a day and is a key artery for the Class 1 railroad between the Midwest and Southeast.

The lease of the CSR that NS holds will expire on Dec. 31, 2026, but has a 25-year renewal option. NS is paying the city about $25 million annually to lease the line.

The railroad and city began discussing a sale of the after their failure to agree to terms for an extension of the lease.

Cincinnati officials have said they will place the proceeds of the sale into an infrastructure fund to be known as the “Building Our Future Trust Fund.”

Officials expect that the fund will generate annual interest payment of $88 million a year. Of that amount, $56 million would go to the City, with the remainder reinvested.

The CSR board is expected to decide next month whether to put on the November ballot the question of voter approval of sale of the line to NS.

Class 1 Employment Rose in April

U.S. Class 1 railroads employed 121,391 workers in April, a 0.6 percent increase from March’s level and a 5.09 percent increase compared with April 2022.

Data released by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board found that five of six employment categories registered increases between March and April.

This included transportation (train and engine), up 0.99 percent to 51,556 employees; maintenance of equipment and stores, up 0.7 percent to 18,030; maintenance of way and structures, up 0.35 percent to 28,715; transportation (other than train and engine), up 0.25 percent to 4,891; and executives, officials and staff assistants, up 0.15 percent to 8,159.

Seeing declines was professional and administrative, which fell 0.31 percent to 10,040.

On a year-over-year comparison, all categories posted gains.

Transportation (train and engine) rose 7.39 percent; executives, officials and staff assistants, 7.31 percent; transportation (other than train and engine), 4.22 percent; professional and administrative, 4.67 percent; maintenance of equipment and stores, 3.58 percent; and maintenance of way and structures, 1.8 percent.

Settlement Reached in Amtrak Keystone Corridor Case

A dispute over access to rail freight shippers on Amtrak’s Keystone Corridor has apparently been resolved.

Amtrak told the U.S. Surface Transportation Board this week that it reached a settlement with the owners of two feed mills in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, and a cereal maker in Lancaster. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The dispute arose when Amtrak planned to shut down one of the main tracks on the line for six weeks for maintenance work.

The feed mill owners, Esbenshade and the Wenger Group, said that would leave them without freight service by Norfolk Southern, which has trackage rights on the line.

Cereal maker Kellogg Company later joined the case, saying its Lancaster plant would not be able to receive inbound loads.

The agreement involving Amtrak, the shippers and NS was described as a settlement in principle.

The parties have asked the STB to hold the case in abeyance until the settlement terms can be completed.

The STB had set a May 15 deadline for the parties to respond to the request of the shippers for a directed service order.

Cereal Maker Enters Amtrak Keystone Line Dispute

Cereal maker Kellogg Company has joined the effort to get Amtrak to modify its plans to take a track on its Keystone Corridor out of service for six weeks.

Kellogg said the loss of freight service by Norfolk Southern, which has trackage rights on the Keystone Corridor, would cause harm to its cereal manufacturing plant in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Amtrak plans to take Track 1 out of service as part of a $167 million rehabilitation of the corridor, which links Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

In the past couple weeks two feed mills served by NS along the corridor have asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to intervene to ensure that shippers continue to receive rail service.

Amtrak has contended that there is no reasonable alternative to removing the track from service for several weeks.

Kellogg said in a filing with the STB last week that it will join the feed mills in their complaint. In the filing, Kellogg said it receives inbound loads from NS two to three times a week.

The two feed mills, Wenger and Esbenshade, said they would lose service to their plants in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania, for the duration of the track closure. They asked the STB to enjoin Amtrak from closing the track and a directed service order to keep NS access to their facilities.

Amtrak has said it plans to reschedule its trains in the corridor and that all of them will use Track 2.

The passenger carrier has said it has talked with NS about their “mutual desire to reach an expeditious resolution of this matter.”

NS Seeks STB OK to Buy Cincinnati Southern

Norfolk Southern has asked the U.S. Surface Transportation board to approve its acquisition of the Cincinnati Southern Railway, a Cincinnati-Chatanooga, Tennessee, route owned by the City of Cincinnati.

The city and NS have reached an agreement for NS to acquire the 338-mile line for $1.62 billion.

NS currently leases the line, an arrangement that has gone on for decades and dates to the time when it was part of the Southern Railway system.

The lease dates to 1881 when the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific began leasing the  line. It its filing with the STB, NS said the route is a key link for its Chicago-Atlanta corridor.

The sale also must be approved by votes in Cincinnati.

NS told the STB that the line hosts an average  of 16 manifest freights and eight intermodal trains a day. Also using the line are about eight daily bulk commodity trains hauling coal, grain and fuel.

The current lease of the  line is set to expire in 2026. Under terms of that lease, NS pays the city $25 million annually.

Amtrak Wants to Solve Shipper Issue

Amtrak said it will seek a solution to allow freight customers on its Keystone Corridor to continue receiving service by Norfolk Southern during a track rebuilding project.

Two feed mills that NS serves via trackage rights on the Amtrak-owned line between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, had complained to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board about Amtrak’s plans to close a track for several weeks which the shippers said would result in their losing freight service.

The feed mills are located in Mount Joy and they asked federal regulators to enjoin Amtrak from cutting off their freight service and to issue a directed service order.

For its part, NS told the STB it wants to maintain the status quo and enter into mediation over the matter. It said in a filing it supports a collaborative approach that enables its customers to continue to have rail access while also enabling Amtrak to undertake its infrastructure work.

NS said it wants to see the track closures occur in 10-day increments rather than over 45 days.

Amtrak responded by saying there was no reasonable alternative to closing the track while construction work is underway.

It acknowledged that rail access for some shippers would be lost during the construction work, which is expected to cost $167 million and cover 14.8 miles of track.

The passenger carrier said in a filing that it’s legal staff would meet with the freight customers, but also argued the STB lacks jurisdiction over Amtrak routes and services.

Shippers Protest Amtrak Track Closure in Pa.

Amtrak’s plans to suspend freight service on its Keystone Corridor in Pennsylvania has drawn the ire of two feed mills along the line.

They have asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to require Amtrak to allow Norfolk Southern to continue to serve them during a six-week maintenance project on the Philadelphia-Harrisburg line.

As part of that project, Amtrak plans to close Track 1 to all rail traffic next month, which means NS freight trains would not be able to reach the feed mills.

In a filing with the STB, the shippers said the track closing violates Amtrak’s common carrier obligation to provide service upon reasonable request.

The feed mills provide feed for livestock in the Northeast. They have asked regulators to order Amtrak to continue allowing NS to serve their facilities.

They said in their filing that losing rail service for six weeks would have “devastating consequences” for their businesses.

NS has trackage rights on the Keystone Corridor and serves the feed mills five days a week. The STB has ordered Amtrak and NS to respond by May 1 to the shipper’s petition.

During the shutdown of Track 1, Amtrak plans to reconfigure the schedules of its own trains that use the route so that all trains operate on Track 2.

The maintenance project involves rebuilding the track and roadbed between Lancaster and Harrisburg.

Class I Rail Employment Ticked up in February

Employment at Class 1 railroads in the United States in February rose 0.81 percent the U.S. Surface Transportation Board reported this week.

The railroads employed 120,210 people. The percentage increase was compared with January employment levels. The February 2023 employment levels were 5.19 percent higher than those of February 2022.

The STB said five of six employment categories posted gains when comparing February to January employment.

They were: executives, officials and staff assistants, up 1.45 percent to 8,114 employees; transportation (train and engine), up 1.08 percent to 50,858; maintenance of way and structures, up 0.88 percent to 28,454; maintenance of equipment and stores, up 0.32 percent to 17,851; and professional and administrative, up 0.05 percent to 10,086.

The transportation (other than train and engine) category fell 0.14 percent to 4,847 employees last month compared with January’s level.

On a year-over-year comparison, all categories saw gains. This included transportation (train and engine), up 7.99 percent; executives, officials and staff assistants, up 6.65 percent; maintenance of equipment and stores, up 3.87 percent; professional and administrative, up 2.58 percent; maintenance of way and structures, up 2.31 percent; and transportation (other than train and engine), up 2.19 percent.

Class 1 Employment Up in January

Class I railroad employment rose 6.2 percent in mid-January compared with the same month in January 2022.

Figures released by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board showed the railroads employed employed 119,245 people in mid-January 2023 However, that was a drop of 0.09 percent decrease compared with December 2022.

Four of six employment categories saw gains between December 2022 and January 2023. Those were transportation (other than train and engine), up 0.68 percent to 4,854 workers; professional and administrative, up 0.53 percent to 10,081; transportation (train and engine), up 0.27 percent to 50,313; and executives, officials and staff assistants, up 0.01 percent to 7,998.

Losing ground were maintenance of way and structures, down 1.09 percent to 28,205 employees, and maintenance of equipment and stores, down 0.09 percent to 17,794.

In comparing January 2023 with January 2022, all employment categories posted increases.

This included transportation (train and engine), up 9.93 percent; executives, officials and staff assistants, up 6.75 percent; maintenance of equipment and stores, up 4.98 percent; transportation (other than train and engine), up 4.03 percent; maintenance of way and structures, up 2.68 percent; and professional and administrative, up 2.22 percent.

STB Won’t Implement Arbitration Program

A proposed arbitration program by the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to resolve small rate disputes will not be implemented.

The program, which was announced in a rule issued by regulators on Dec. 19, required all seven Class 1 railroads to agree to join the program.

However, four of those carriers asked the Board to stay implementation of the program, saying the Feb. 3 deadline to join or refuse to join the program didn’t give them enough time to review the program’s parameters before having to make a decision.

The STB denied that request on Jan. 24 and the carriers, CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and the U.S. operating companies of Canadian National, on Feb. 3 submitted a new request for a stay.

That request was denied by the STB on Feb. 14. In response, three carriers agreed to participate in the program, but four others did not.

Because of the lack of unanimity among the Class 1 carriers, the arbitration program will not be implemented.

CSX told the Board in a filing that although it favored a voluntary arbitration program to settle small rate disputes, it was “concerned about certain aspects of the Arbitration Rule as proposed by the Board.”