(The following editorial appeared on the Daily Gazette website on June 1.)
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Commuters and travelers aren’t the only ones saving fuel and the environment by using the train these days, so are shippers. The rail freight business in this country is booming, and has been for some time (thanks largely to those intermodal containers that allow for easy transfer to trucks). That’s good news for the Capital Region, which already has a number of freight lines serving it, and is about to get another, Norfolk Southern, with a deal announced late last month.
The deal is with Pan Am Railways, New England’s largest regional railroad, which runs a main line from just outside Boston to Mechanicville. (If Pan Am sounds like the defunct airline, that’s the idea: Its name, logo and colors were bought by Guilford Transportation Industries 10 years ago and started appearing on Guilford’s rolling stock in 2006, when the company changed its name to Pan Am.)
Norfolk Southern is one of the nation’s biggest rail lines, with more than 21,000 miles of track in 22 states. As its name implies, most of its track, and business, is in the South. But since the breakup of Conrail in 1999 it has had a presence in New York’s Southern Tier; and in recent years has extended its reach into New England by leasing track from Pan Am.
Now leasing will no longer be necessary. The agreement calls for Norfolk Southern to buy a 50 percent stake in the 155-mile Boston-to-Mechanicville line, creating a new entity, Pan Am Southern, which will own that line and another 281 miles of connecting track. Norfolk Southern will pay $140 million for its share, $87.5 million of which will go to track and signal improvements that will allow for more trains at faster speeds.
Capacity and speed are how freight railroads compete — and competition will be good not only for shippers looking to save money, but for places where all these rail lines come together. Like the Capital Region.
CSX already has large yards in Selkirk that serve trains connecting the Midwest and South to Boston and southern New England. Norfolk Southern said it expects to build new yards in the Albany area, giving it greater access to Boston and the rest of New England.
We think Mechanicville would be a great choice for these new facilities. It was once home to extensive yards of the old Boston & Maine (eventually taken over by Guilford), and it could certainly use the economic boost.