Amtrak service said continuing after track sale

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=37570

Amtrak service said continuing after track sale Railroad officials said Wednesday (Aug. 29) that Amtrak service between Ypsilanti and Kalamazoo is expected to continue after rail ownership changes hands, but some local officials remain skeptical of the passenger service's future, the Battle Creek Enquirer reports.

The railroad corridor currently is owned by Norfolk, Va.-based Norfolk Southern Corp., but the company is working on a deal to pass ownership and maintenance responsibilities to the smaller Pittsburg, Kan.-based Watco Cos. Inc.

Some skepticism was borne from the first-of-its-kind agreement that will create the Michigan Central Railway LLC, former U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz, R-Battle Creek, said.

"This deal sounds good, and I give Norfolk Southern and Watco credit for trying to put together a business agreement that will benefit the shippers in this line," Schwarz said. "It is, however, blazing a new trail as far as passenger rail is concerned.

"There is virtually no other place in the United States where Amtrak runs over short-line railroad."

 

[Guest]

http://www.utu.org/worksite/detail_news.cfm?ArticleID=37570

"There is virtually no other place in the United States where Amtrak runs over short-line railroad."

Vermonter on New England Central - before that CN owned Central of Vermont

Cardinal on whatever the name is of the CSX spin off.

UTU of all people should know these.

 

[Rafi]

Vermonter on New England Central - before that CN owned Central of VermontCardinal on whatever the name is of the CSX spin off.

UTU of all people should know these.

Yup. The Cardinal runs over what is now considered a short line between Orange, VA and Charlottesville, VA by way of Gordonsville, operated and maintained by the Buckingham Branch Railroad, based in Dillwyn, VA (not far from my alma mater, Hampden-Sydney in Farmville). I believe CSX still owns the line, but the BBR is now leasing it and running it as a short line (somebody correct me if I'm wrong, obviously). The Cardinal meanders through Gordonsville, but it's actually the most pivotal part of the entire route (literally): it's where the Cardinal literally makes a sharp left hand turn to head west to Chicago and north to Washington/New York.

There is some very hopeful (ie a longshot) talk of one day running commuter service along that line from Charlottesville to Richmond (instead of turning north at Gordonsville, like the Cardinal, it'd go straight and end up at Richmond's Staples Mill station and then Main Street), bringing passenger service back to some small towns that used to thrive on the railroad (Gordonsville, Mineral, etc).

Anyway, that's a long way of saying that, yes, Amtrak's Cardinal is most definitely a short line train for part of its route, and a very scenic one at that (has an excursion train feel while on that stretch of track—lots of clickity-clack and rocking). I recall hearing many of the same concerns when CSX made the deal with BBR, and I remember hearing about how BBR, who was previously unaccustomed to having scheduled passenger trains on its tracks, inadvertently left a car in the way of the Cardinal with no way for the train to get around, short of making a Y and running the rest of the trip backwards (they didn't do that, as far as I know, and BBR sent out a switcher to move the car, I believe, but the train was seriously delayed).

-Rafi