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General railway discussions


Nope.

That's not what the article says.

It says CP will free up one slot per day for Amtrak.

1639430616931.png
 
^Interesting. CP certainly wants to put its best foot forward with the folks down there who are impacted by the merger.

The line in question is single track, about 88 miles in length, is signalled for ABS but is not CTC equipped. Not sure if it has PTC - which will be an Amtrak requirement. And about 6 miles of it, in the approach to New Orleans, is joint territory with CN…. that may prove interesting also.

- Paul
 
^Interesting. CP certainly wants to put its best foot forward with the folks down there who are impacted by the merger.
Probably just wants to put its best foot forward in the middle of a merger with a US company. It’s not like the STB is shy to saying “No”, and the optics would look pretty bad with a fairly train-friendly administration.

In Canada however - meh. They know they can do whatever they want: no one will call them on it.
 
Probably just wants to put its best foot forward in the middle of a merger with a US company. It’s not like the STB is shy to saying “No”, and the optics would look pretty bad with a fairly train-friendly administration.

In Canada however - meh. They know they can do whatever they want: no one will call them on it.

To be fair to the current administration of CP.....*** (that just changed) ...... they've shown a willingness to allow more service from Calgary to Banff; and I'm hearing about a very open mind on a substantial service boost on the Milton Corridor.

It really comes down to adequate capacity, and who pays for that.

Even in the U.S. context they're offering one measly slot, and that is still clearly contingent on some level of infrastructure funding.
 
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To be fair to the current administration of CP.....*** (that just changed) ...... they've shown a willingness to allow more service from Calgary to Banff; and I'm hearing about a very open mind on a substantial service boost on the Milton Corridor.

My sense is that CEO Creel is the real deal…. as focussed on the bottom line as his predecessor, but much more aware of the community around the railway and recognising the benefit in “working the room”

It really comes down to adequate capacity, and who pays for that.

Even in the U.S. context they're offering one measly slot, and that is still clearly contingent on some level of infrastructure funding.

With a massive infrastructure bill just passed by Congress, and a line that could use some upscaling to move freight better….why not offer the olive branch and see what Amtrak can fund? Again, I’d say CP can see where its best interests lie.

- Paul
 
And aren’t local routes majority state funded anyways? I’d guess in LA the risk of the state government coming in with an operational subsidy is minimal.
 
And aren’t local routes majority state funded anyways? I’d guess in LA the risk of the state government coming in with an operational subsidy is minimal.

This corridor was identified in Amtrak’s 15-year vision document which was the basis of its “ask” of Biden under the Infrastructure Bill.

It appears (see pg 72) that the format Amtrak proposed to create new corridors has the feds put forward grants for capital, and some initial operating supprt, and then the states assume most of the longer term operating costs. States may have to kick in capital also for long term growth. The news article cited above certainly seems to suggest that the state (Louisiana) will provide funding.

Another section of the document notes that state supported trains currently have a 93% cost recovery (revenue + state support) and Amtrak gets the remaining 7% from Washington.

The Amtrak plan for NO-BR calls for 2 trains a day, which means CP’s offer of one per day does imply “if you want a second, it’s on your dime”.

- Paul
 

Does this article use CP instead of CN as an error or is there a reason for CP still owning part of the Wakley yard long after their operations were suspended in Ottawa? The article says the land was leased to the city in 2001, likely for the original O-train. I thought that they left the city in the early 90s.
 

Does this article use CP instead of CN as an error or is there a reason for CP still owning part of the Wakley yard long after their operations were suspended in Ottawa? The article says the land was leased to the city in 2001, likely for the original O-train. I thought that they left the city in the early 90s.

No, it is CP. When the NCC built the Walkley yards back in the 60's, they gave the north half to CP and the half south to CN (in exchange for the yards they expropriated). As the article says, Capital Railway (the rail division of OC Transpo) had a 20 year lease (which expires at the end of the month) on CP's half of the yard with the option to buy it.

Edit: This is the parcel of land (in blue) I beleive they are purchasing. As you can see, as the article indicates, the parcel is significantly larger than what they are currently using.

CP Walkely Yard.jpg

Map curtesy geoOttawa (2019 Aerial photograph, with Property Parcels layer on)
 
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I thought that they left the city in the early 90s.

I forgot to answer this part of the question. According to The Beachburg Sub website, the last CP freight in Ottawa operated in 1997. According to this city document, "in August 1998, Council of the former Region of Ottawa-Carleton directed staff to proceed with development and implementation of a pilot project for light rail transit service" and presumably there were talks with CP prior to that (the tracks were still there when the pilot started in 2001). Also in that same document, when the city purchased part of the Ellwood Subdivision from Mile 0.00 to 4.99 (Ottawa River to Walkley Yard), part of the Prescott Subdivision from Mile 4.89 to Mile 8.17 (Walkley Yard to Leitrim Road), and the Prince of Wales Bridge (now Chief William Commanda Bridge), they elected to "lease the 8.5 acre maintenance yard beyond 31 May 2005," until they could acquire a more "appropriate maintenance and storage yard site along the priority line." Obviously they weren't able to find a better alternative, so they decided to purchase the yard from CP.
 
Makes sense! I had thought that CP had left sold the north shore route and left Ottawa when they abandoned the Waltham and Maniwaki Subdivisions.
 
Makes sense! I had thought that CP had left sold the north shore route and left Ottawa when they abandoned the Waltham and Maniwaki Subdivisions.

You are thinking of the wrong direction. CP’s last train out of Walkley yard (on Nov. 11, 1997 according to Old Time Trains) travelled south on the Prescott Sub to Bedell, Kemptville (where it connected with the Winchester Sub).
 

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