Partnering with the Freight Railroads Passenger Service

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Partnering with the Freight Railroads Passenger
Service SCORT 2009 National Meeting September
21, 2009
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CSX operates over 21,000 route miles within 23
Eastern states, the District of Columbia and two
Canadian Provinces .

• 1,200 trains/day (200 passenger)
• 7.4 million carloads per year
• 3,800 locomotives
• 101,000 freight cars
• Serves 70 ocean, lake and river ports
• 30,000 employees

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Our belief is that rail provides sustainable
transportation solutions.
Rail is the safest and most secure mode of
surface transportation One intermodal train can
carry the load of 280 trucks A locomotive can
haul a ton of freight 436 miles on one gallon of
fuel Rail capital investment relies principally
on private funds
Safe and Secure
Efficient
Green
Sustainable
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Clearly, there is a pressing need to pursue
alternative transportation modes.
Today
2020
Source USDOT FHWA Freight Analysis Framework
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Can railroads handle more freight while also
carrying more passenger traffic?

• ESSENTIAL DECISIONS
• Choosing the right location
• Careful planning
• Sufficient strategic investment

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Freight service and conventional passenger
operations up to 79 MPH may commingle provided
four principles are addressed

• SAFETY
• Safety cannot be compromised
• CAPACITY
• Capacity must ensure safe and reliable operations
  and ensure access and room for current and future
  freight customers
• COMPENSATION
• Compensation must offset all expenses of the
  additional passenger service
• LIABILITY
• Indemnified against any new liability that, but
  for the new passenger service, would not exist

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Emerging/Higher Speed Passenger Rail operating at
speeds between 80 and 90 MPH must be examined on
a case by case basis

• Must meet the safety, capacity, compensation and
  liability requirements of conventional passenger
  rail operations
• Factors governing the commingling of freight and
  passenger rail above 79 MPH 
• Operating characteristics, volumes and
  frequencies of both the freight and existing
  conventional passenger traffic
• Right-of-way availability
• Highway-rail grade crossings and other physical
  obstacles
• Number of towns and cities traversed
• Topography of the corridor
• Publicly funded track and signal improvements 
• Public funding of ongoing maintenance and
  operations
• Possibility of temporal separation

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Regional/Express High Speed Passenger Rail
operating above 90 MPH must do so on dedicated
tracks separated from freight operations

• Sealed from highways and pedestrians
• HSR requires grade separated roadways
• Pedestrian overpasses, tunnels and barriers must
  prevent access to tracks
• Dispatched and maintained by the passenger entity
• Separate operation insures no compromises for
  heavier, slower freight
• CSX operating rules/signal engineering
  standards do not contemplate HSR
• CSX core business is moving high tonnage trains
  at conventional speeds
• If the right-of-way is shared, the freight
  operator must be able to access both its present
  and future customers to meet its common carrier
  obligation.
• Freight carriers must not be isolated on one side
  of the right-of-way

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SAFETY There can be no compromise

• Any operation passenger or freight on CSX
  tracks or property must be safe.
• No new risks to the public, passengers or CSX
  employees
• Consistent with CSX safety objectives and
  programs
• Dedicated HSR passenger corridors need adequate
  distance from existing freight rail tracks to
  allow employee work without removing the adjacent
  tracks from service. 
• A train traveling at high speeds picks up debris,
  spraying anyone within the envelope of the vacuum
  
• Switching rail cars and track, bridge, signal,
  communication or any other type of work on
  adjacent track must be considered
• Sufficient separation between tracks decreases
  the chance that work on one will disrupt service
  on an adjacent track

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CAPACITY Passenger projects that diminish
existing and future freight capacity are
inconsistent with the true objectives of planners

• A cost-effective, reliable freight rail system is
  vital to state economies
• Absent additional capacity, new passenger trains
  diminish freight capacity
• More trucks on the highway
• Congestion on vehicular arteries increases
• Pollution increases
• Passenger agencies that consume the existing,
  cheap capacity for passenger trains must
• Replace the capacity consumed, previously
  available for future freight demands
• Add capacity required to maintain fluidity as the
  freight volume returns
• Passenger operations must be transparent to
  freight operations
• Detailed modeling required

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COMPENSATION Freight railroads are not public
utilities and must be compensated for
right-of-way and capacity consumed by passengers.

• Freight railroads are publicly held companies,
  operating on private property maintained by
  private investment
• Infrastructure built solely for passenger trains
  is of little or no benefit to the host railroad.
• Therefore, passenger authorities accessing
  freight tracks must
• Pay for the feasibility studies and freight
  carrier resources to review the proposals
• Bear the full cost of any new facilities required
  to accommodate the passenger service
• Cover ongoing maintenance for the facilities not
  needed but for the passenger service
• Compensate host carrier for the use/acquisition
  of rights-of-way at fair market value

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LIABILITY Freight railroads cannot assume
additional liability for passenger operations on
freight tracks or freight rights-of-way

• Despite CSXs record as one of the nations
  safest railroads, accidents can and do happen
• The establishment of passenger service which
  brings, new, more or faster trains creates a
  vastly increased level of risk which is not
  matched by any monetary benefit to the host
  railroad.
• A recent GAO analysis regarding the handling of
  liability where freight trains and commuter
  trains operate on the same tracks found that
• Absent an agreement on liability, passenger
  operations expose freight railroads to an
  especially dangerous and unfair risk.
• Host freight railroads must be fully protected
  against any and all liability resulting from the
  added presence of high speed passenger service

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Ten major corridors have been identified by the
federal government for possible high-speed rail
funding
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The proven partnerships established around the
I-95 Corridor in Virginia set the standard for
the nation
Existing Amtrak Routes (2007)
Existing VRE Service Area (2007)
Washington, D.C. Union Station
Amtrak Stations
Alexandria
Manassas
Springfield
Lorton Woodbridge
Quantico
Fredericksburg
Clifton Forge
Charlottesville
Ashland
Richmond Staples Mill Road
Richmond Main Street
Lynchburg
Williamsburg
Petersburg
Newport News
Bristol
Note Green Line Width Relative Number of
Amtrak Passenger Routes
Source Virginia Department of Rail and Public
Transportation
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North Carolina and Virginia entered into an
interstate compact to further insure the success
of the Southeast High Speed Corridor

• North Carolinas applications support the states
  passenger rail vision
• Acquire CSXs S-Line running from Petersburg, VA
  to Raleigh, NC, much of which is abandoned, for
  110 MPH service
• Develop the Southeast High Speed Rail Corridor
  between Richmond and Raleigh including 168 miles
  of track construction, plus grade separations,
  signal work, and passenger stations.
• Upgrade the existing Amtrak service on CSXs
  A-Line between Richmond and Savannah

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Thanks for your attention and for your interest.

• Please dont hesitate to call on me with any
  questions.