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Booming growth on freight railroads

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KJP:
I believe the portion where the trail exists is on the railbanked portion. Railbanking is very different from abandonment. Railbanking is an alternative to abandonment that was passed by Congress in 1983 in response to a wave of abandonments which followed Congress' 1980 passage of the Staggers railroad deregulation bill. Deregulation made it easier for railroads to abandon their rights of way. Under abandonment, a railroad gives up all property rights. Railbanking is similar to abandonment in which a right of way can be sold by a railroad to someone, but that new use is considered temporary. It is called an intervening use. So if the railroad wants to take the right of way back, it has the right to do so over any other potential users. In fact, if any buildings, trails or structures have been placed on the railbanked right of way and a railroad wants to use that right of way, then those impediments have to be removed, often at the expense of the entity which sponsored funding for the construction of that impediment. Thus far, the STB has never refused reactivation of a railbanked right of way. The case law is less extensive regarding petitions to reactivate abandoned railroad rights of way. But railroads are one of the few areas of private enterprise which has eminent domain powers. And as long as one freight train can take several hundred trucks off the road, environmental and legal reviews such as this one by the STB have favored the reactivation of abandoned rail lines, not just railbanked rail lines.

KJP:
This could result in carload traffic growth on this line. And the rail ROW lease in Mahoning County is interesting!

Port authority provides more land to Chesapeake
May 26, 2012
By TOM GIAMBRONI - Staff Writer (tgiambroni@mojonews.com) , Morning Journal News

EAST LIVERPOOL - The Columbiana County Port Authority plans to lease some more of its property for shale gas development.

The port authority board agreed at this week's meeting to lease an additional 44 acres to Chesapeake Exploration, a subsidiary of natural gas giant Chesapeake Energy, for $1,800 an acre and 15 percent royalties. This will generate a signing bonus of $79,200.

...The 44 acres represents the portion of the 36-mile railroad owned by the port authority that lies in neighboring Beaver County, Pa. The former Youngstown & Southern Railroad, which the port authority is in the process of selling, connects Boardman in Mahoning County and Darlington, Pa., with the majority running through this county.

...Drake said they are also working to lease the Mahoning County portion of its railroad right-of-way to Chesapeake.

READ MORE AT:
http://www.morningjournalnews.com/page/content.detail/id/540318.html

KJP:
http://tinyurl.com/cvk7wss

‘Immediate Needs’ assessment of Mahoning Valley rail infrastructure is released

On May 31, a sister organization of All Aboard Ohio called RESTORE released its ”Immediate Needs” rail infrastructure assessment for the Mahoning Valley. The client is the Western Reserve Port Authority (WRPA) which has considered whether to support rail infrastructure improvements and, if so, which ones may be the most appropriate for building its organizational capacity for developing rail projects.

Here is the final recommendations:

FINAL REPORT: http://freepdfhosting.com/1f1ababf68.pdf (11MB download)
PRESENTATION: http://freepdfhosting.com/59dc745e0c.pdf (8MB download – after it opens, right-click on the image and select Rotate Clockwise)

In recent years, the Youngstown-Warren Mahoning Valley area has seen a surge of industrial growth and development activity after 35 years of de-industrialization. During those three decades, the region lost some but not all of its rail infrastructure — rail yards, track connections, mainlines. Some of those missing pieces can be restored more easily than others to serve new industrial shippers and provide more track capacity for existing, growing shippers.

WRPA hired RESTORE because of its familiarity with rail infrastructure, routes, histories and current/future traffic flows. It also has knowledge of rail industry players, practices and will research, review and recommend projects in a fair and honest manner. RESTORE subcontracted with Michael Connor, rail consultant for Excelsior Transportation Management in Cleveland.  Among his many other railroad experiences, Mr. Connor was Chief Operating Officer for Ohio Central RR when his company acquired and preserved numerous railroad rights of way for future use in the Mahoning Valley. His knowledge and experience was very important in guiding this study.

RESTORE was hired by WRPA to identify up to five potential rail projects that can get underway in less than two years to meet the immediate needs of railroads, industries and other shippers. RESTORE was also asked to take a big-picture view to identify some longer-term, community-need rail projects, to measure their viability and to assess what features they could add in order to further increase their viability. The final study was delivered to WRPA on May 31, 2012.

noozer:
6/11/2012 12:30:00 PM   
CSX, Schneider National forge pact to expand Ohio intermodal services

Today, Schneider National Inc. announced it reached an agreement with CSX Transportation to broaden intermodal services in northwestern Ohio. Schneider National’s service now will include two intermodal ramps in Marion and North Baltimore, Ohio.

The pact will expand Schneider Intermodal’s service to the Northeast, Southeast and Pacific Northwest, Schneider National officials said in a prepared statement. In addition, service capability will be enhanced throughout the U.S. and Mexico, and multi-modal options will increase for shippers, they said.

Read more at: http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=31295

noozer:
Rail shipping through Marion could double
9:25 PM, Jun. 12, 2012 
Written by
John Jarvis
The Marion Star

MARION — An agreement between Schneider National Inc. and CSX Transportation will double the amount of shipping going through Marion Intermodal, Ted Graham said.

Graham, president of Marion Industrial Center and Marion Intermodal, said the project “will probably double the volume” of trucks delivering and hauling away freight from the intermodal facility at Marion Industrial Center, 3007 Harding Highway E.
The addition of a ramp, or rail yard, at Marion Intermodal in conjunction with CSX’s construction of a railroad turn 25 miles west of Marion in Ridgeway, will connect Marion Intermodal with CSX’s $175 million intermodal terminal in the northwest village of North Baltimore.
Read more at: http://www.marionstar.com/article/20120612/NEWS01/120612007/Rail-shipping-through-Marion-could-double

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