CSX commuter train crashes

Click title for article link. April 30, 2008 CSX commuter train crashes Dan Webster, the Senate's chief advocate for a controversial CSX commuter rail project, put a fork in the project's success this session after Sen. Carey Baker announced he was stripping the project from a major transportation bill this evening. A growing number of lawmakers objected to a no-fault liability plan for CSX, which would sell 61.5 miles or rail line for $150 million. The state is supposed to poney up another $500 million for freight improvements benefitting CSX's freight lines. But lawmakers have to approve the liability deal, which the House did. In the Senate, however, chief opponent Paula Dockery said she entered the day with 27 votes to strike the liability deal, more than she'd need. "I think the liability issue's dead," said Webster, the Senate majority leader. UPDATE: CSX and central Florida lobbyists say all is not over, echoing Baker that the provisions could come up in another bill before session closes Friday. "I think you'll see it come up again," said lobbyist John Thrasher for Orlando. Posted by David DeCamp at 6:27:45 PM on April 30, 2008 in Florida Senate Permalink

Runaway Train

Please click the link below to see the effects of a train wreck first hand from Dade City. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KnPdtHl9ZQ&feature=related

freight carriers are being jeopardized by local residents defending their own backyard.

Click title for full story. U.S. railway heavyweights back CN plan Defend revamp of Chicago hub BRENT JANG TRANSPORTATION REPORTER April 21, 2008 Two of the largest railways in the United States have joined rival Canadian National Railway Co. to sound the alarm that expansion plans by North America's freight carriers are being jeopardized by local residents defending their own backyard. CN's plans to revamp its Chicago hub have become the test case, with the railway running into opposition from suburban residents, who fear that increased train traffic near their homes will lead to longer waits at rail crossings, extra noise and more pollution. CN announced last September that it would pay $300-million (U.S.) for Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Co. (EJ&E), a strategic but underused line along Chicago's outskirts, subject to regulatory approval from the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.

Anti CSX Rally in Lakeland

CSX to invest $40M in local rail infrastructure

Click title to link to story. CSX Corp. plans to spend $40 million to connect its Northeast Jacksonville rail spur to its main line along U.S. 1 so that trains going to and from new container terminals being built or planned don't have to travel through town to its Westside rail yard. The bypass initiative is linked to the Jacksonville Port Authority's plans to develop an intermodal container transfer facility on the Northside to receive containers from the soon-to-open TraPac Inc. terminal at Dames Point and a proposed Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. terminal nearby. Combined, the two terminals are projected to have a capacity of 1.8 million 20-foot-equivalent units of containerized cargo a year.

Coming To Winter Haven?

Is this coming to Winter Haven? http://www.kindermorgan.com/investor/kmp_2001_annual_report_financials.pdf Central Florida Pipeline We own and operate two liquids terminals, one located in Tampa, Florida and one located in Taft, Florida (near Orlando, Florida), and an intrastate common carrier pipeline system that serves customers' product storage and transportation needs in Central Florida. The Tampa Terminal contains 31 aboveground storage tanks consisting of approximately 1.4 million barrels of storage capacity and is connected to two ship dock facilities in the Port of Tampa that unload reÑned products from barges and ocean-going vessels into the terminal. The Tampa Terminal provides storage for gasoline, diesel fuel and jet fuel for further movement into either trucks through Ñve truck-loading racks or into the Central Florida Pipeline system. The Tampa Terminal also provides storage for chemicals, predominantly used to treat citrus crops, delivered to the terminal by vessel or rail car and loaded onto trucks through Ñve truck loading racks. The Taft Terminal contains 22 above-ground storage tanks consisting of approximately 670,000 barrels of storage capacity, providing storage for gasoline and diesel fuel for further movement into trucks through 11 truck loading racks. The Central Florida Pipeline system consists of a 110-mile, 16-inch pipeline that transports gasoline and an 85-mile, 10-inch pipeline that transports diesel fuel and jet fuel from Tampa to Orlando, with an intermediate delivery point on the 10-inch pipeline at Intercession City, Florida. The Central Florida Pipeline represents the only major reÑned products pipeline in the state of Florida. In addition to being connected to our Tampa Terminal, the pipeline system is connected to terminals owned and operated by TransMontaigne, Citgo, BP, and Marathon Ashland Petroleum. The 10-inch pipeline is connected to our Taft Terminal and is also the sole pipeline supplying jet fuel to the Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida. In 2001, the pipeline transported approximately 93,000 barrels per day of reÑned products, with the product mix being approximately 66% gasoline, 13% diesel fuel, and 21% jet fuel.

Railcars idle as economy falters

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CSX plan for railyard wins converts, though some in area still opposed

Click title for link to full story. CSX plan for railyard wins converts, though some in area still opposed North Baltimore facility making progress By DAVID PATCHBLADE STAFF WRITER NORTH BALTIMORE, Ohio - From their current front door, Tim and Beth Apple can see the house along State Rt. 18 in Wood County's Henry Township that Mr. Apple was building before CSX Transportation came calling last year. Now that unfinished house is boarded up, like several others on either side of it, and work crews have begun clearing woodlots on other land along the south side of the CSX railroad tracks that run between Hoytville and North Baltimore. By year's end, CSX expects to have begun building a new railyard and truck-transfer terminal - known in the business as an intermodal yard - along the south side of those tracks between Range Line and Liberty Hi roads.

She'll be comin' round the mountain, when she comes

Thursday, April 3, 2008 She'll be comin' round the mountain, when she comes Union Pacific wants to build a massive rail yard near Picacho Peak near the site of a Civil War battle in 1862. A bipartisan group of legislators, led by Rep. Jonathan Paton, R-Tucson, are seeking to add some safeguards to ensure the railroad works with neighboring land owners and minimizes the environmental impact of a complex larger than Sky Harbor International Airport. The Arizona Daily Star devotes significant space to the conflict today. Here is the story and here is the bill. HB2156 has already cleared the House and is awaiting floor action in the Senate. Last year, the governor vetoed a bill that would have given the Corporation Commission a little more say in how or even if the rail yard gets built. The measures introduced by Paton would help ensure private property rights since railroads have the power to take property through eminent domain. Posted by ArizonaHouse at 9:30 AM

CSX Wants Legal Free Pass

In spite of an accident last week that sent 95 Commuter Rail passengers and crew to the hospital, the freight company CSX is seeking a contract with the state that would hold the railroad blameless in any accident with a Commuter Rail train on the Worcester-Framingham Line - even if CSX was at fault. The MBTA has long sought to buy the line, which CSX owns and shares with Commuter Rail trains. Those negotiations have stalled, transportation secretary Bernard Cohen said Thursday, because CSX is insisting on a clause that would force the state to pay all damages in the event of an accident. "I don't see how we can agree to complete indemnity of CSX for an accident where they're responsible," Cohen said. "We don't think that sends a very good safety message, number one." On Wednesday, Massachusetts Sens. Edward Kennedy and John Kerry and other members of the state congressional representatives wrote to CSX president Michael Ward, threatening federal legislative action if the company does not drop the issue. Last week's accident on the Stoughton Line occurred when a 100-ton boxcar came loose from a lumberyard siding, rolled about three miles and crashed into a stopped Commuter Rail train. No one was seriously injured. Early on, investigators were said to be focusing on employees at the lumberyard, Stoughton-based Cohenno Inc. However, MBTA Director of Railroad Operations John D. Ray said other causes are still being looked at. "Right now, I think nothing's been ruled out," he said. CSX representatives could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Number Of Trains Double

Click title for full story. Number of trains on local tracks nearly doubles By MATT DIXON, DAILY SUN WILDWOOD — Since last April, the number of freight trains traveling through Sumter and Marion counties has nearly doubled, according to officials with CSX Corp.Early last year, CSX, a Jacksonville-based rail line, told Wildwood City Manager Jim Stevens that 15 CSX freight trains travel on the “S-line” through the city on a daily basis; by October that number had jumped to 27, according to CSX spokesman Gary Sease, who provided no explanation for the nearly 50 percent increase in freight traffic in less than six months. The significant increase likely will not be the city’s last.In November, the state of Florida purchased nearly 62 miles of track from CSX. That strip of track stretches from DeLand in Volusia County to Poinciana in Osceola County, and will be used to help establish a commuter-rail system through Central Florida, a taxpayer-funded project aimed at helping alleviate traffic congestion in and around the Orlando area.