Muleskinner wrote:Geno wrote:I'm just taking a stab, but losing the Peavine is leaving a big hole in the region as a whole. If left completely intact and upkept to minimal standards could it not be brought back in the future fairly easy? Stretch out the cost and do the upgrades slowly and over time. Work on the closed section that CET isn't running on then go from there. Once it's gone, it's gone. Could it not be used as a bridge route to alleviate congestion on other routes? I'm just curious and hope this isn't a dumb question. With so many routes running at or above capacity and yards clogged like arteries it seems crazy to lose any if they can be utilized. How many rail lines are kicking themselves in the ass for abandoning lines that they'd love to have back now when they could have railbanked them? Just my thoughts. I applaud CET for making the headway they have and wish them many years of good fortune on the Peavine. Hopefully it doesn't end up being just another rail-trail.
I hate to be the one to say it, but railroads in general are in trouble. Closing so many rail lines in the past 30 years and they are still closing lines. They are limiting there business and choking themselves out. In another 30 years railroads will be gone in this country. It may sound crazy, but that's what you probably thought 30 years ago when railroads ran all over and someone said half will be gone in 30 years. Who would ever think the Milwaukee road would close and be wiped out of existence. Unless the government steps in or they ban trucking and cars, I don't see railroads bouncing back.
As for the Peavine, I hope it opens back up, but I don't see that happening unless someone buys the whole line as a private ownership and rebuilds the line from Cincy to Portsmouth and runs train rides & excursions on the line. Also charges rail companies to run through freight over the line.
Railroads are not in trouble. Overall the railroad industry is doing just fine and will continue to do just fine and will continue to grow in the future. The problem isn't how railroads are doing, it is how they are doing it when it comes to shortline railroads and branch lines. Yes, many shortlines are struggling for customers and many railroads have pulled up tracks over the previous 30 to 40 years.
We need to ask ourselves why this is.
Let's look at the landscape in Ohio for an example. Three things happened which changed the history of the railroads in Ohio.
In 1978 you had the Southern Railway who reached as far north as Northern Kentucky and transferred cars as far as Cincy. From Cincy those cars needed to be transferred to a different railroad to go North. At the same time, you had the Seaboard system which also ran to the same place and had to do the same transferring of cars to a "northern" railroad. This also allowed the DT&I a piece of the pie of cars going to and from "down south" to Detroit. In the early 1980's the Seaboard system and Chessie system merged into CSX and Southern and Norfolk and Western merged into Norfolk Southern. This created a direct link between down south and up north without having to interchange cars. This wasn't the first time something like this happened. East-west across the state saw the Erie and Lackawanna merger, the creation of the Penn Central and later Conrail. All of this consolidation changed the traffic flow and consolidated it onto fewer and fewer lines that became busier.
The second big change was in the industries railroads served. Industries changed how they received their product. Gone were the days where auto parts were loaded into boxcars and kept in the box cars until they were needed. The auto industry went to just in time delivery. This eliminate the use of rail for a significant number of plants in the auto industry and lead to the decline of many rail lines.
The third change goes along with the second. As industries expanded or relocated they found it easier and cheaper to build truck loading docks than rail sidings. This meant for shorter hauls the materials now moved by truck rather than train. This meant the significant decline for short line and branch lines. For longer haul traffic the industries found it cheaper to use intermodal. The Lake State predecessor used to serve Cheboygan, Mi when Proctor and Gamble had a diaper plant in town. When that plant closed, the railroad was pretty quick to pull up the "dead line". A new company came in that papers paper towels and toilet paper. The product still goes by rail, but it is trucked to Chicago from Cheboygan before getting loaded onto rail.
The point is the transportation industry has changed and railroad has adapted to the changes. Are all railroads in trouble? Absolutely not, but smaller lines depending on a single or a few customers are not in great shape.
Other lines became unneeded when the major industry they served closed up shop, often due to international competition. The paper industry was hammered by international completion and still is witnessing plant closures which are leading to the reduction or elimination of rail lines (E&LS in Ontonagon, Michigan, Sappi Paper lead in Muskegon, Mi).