“Our new Ohio intermodal service will create an efficient, direct service from the West Coast into the Ohio Valley region,” said Tom Williams, group vice president, Consumer Products. “It’s another way BNSF is working to streamline the existing supply chain and makes moving products easier.”
Much like the BNSF route from Southern California to Atlanta, a portion of this new service from the Los Angeles region to North Baltimore will operate under a haulage agreement with CSX. The route will traverse BNSF’s Southern Transcon through and beyond Chicago to the Ohio Valley.
Manufacturing is Ohio’s largest economic sector, with export commodities shipping from the state to 213 countries. Ohio also ranks number 14 on Forbes Best States for Business list, thanks to lower business costs and an improved economy.
— A BNSF Railway news release. Oct. 2, 2018.
Seems to me that direct service would bypass Chicago all together. They could route it via St. Louis and up the ex Conrail main line to Indy. Maybe they meant to name it round about service!
This is why we need truly transcontinental railroads under one flag. Many new intermodal markets could be created.
UP had an IG3CH that ran to 59th St. It was abolished and the stacks are now tacked on to the ZG3SKP.
MARK _ Oh My God! How did I miss that there are two exits for Remington when for years I have been trying to find where Remington is? Only two possible explanations: (1) In Indiana, one loses his literacy. (2) Distracted by the hundreds of windmills defiling the landscape and robbing America of productive farmland.
“Manufacturing is Ohio’s largest economic sector, with export commodities shipping from the state to 213 countries.”
Interesting, considering there are only 193 counties (or 197 depending on how they’re counted) in the world.
“I may be wrong but I don’t recall any exit signs for Remington on I-65.”
There are actually 2 Remington exits:
https://www.google.com/search?q=US+231+Remington+I-65&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig3sCguOndAhVpy1QKHXaYDVsQ_AUIESgE&biw=1667&bih=891#imgrc=HxI3teWLM8b_6M:
https://www.google.com/search?q=US+231+Remington+I-65&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwig3sCguOndAhVpy1QKHXaYDVsQ_AUIESgE&biw=1667&bih=891#imgrc=HxI3teWLM8b_6M:
Interesting. Currently, Columbus is served by connections over Chicago. Conrail TV 220 and NS equivalent, for example. This just makes it all BNSF with trackage rights over CSX. Wonder how much new traffic this will generate. I guess nearly zero.
Interesting that CSX will support the short haul. If successful NS-UP could offer something similar and perhaps faster via KC.
Thanks for the info, people, now I know where Remington is. I may be wrong but I don’t recall any exit signs for Remington on I-65. We have been to Subaru at Lafayette, drove there in our Lafayette – built 2008 Outback. Our tour guide couldn’t answer my questions about rail service but you people have. It’s changed over the years, Subaru now claims many North American parts (presumably brought by highway), but when our 2008 Subaru was assembled at Lafayette it was listed as 100% Japanese content (presumably brought by containers on rail).
The yard on the TPW is still there between Remington and Wolcott, Indiana. It serviced the Subaru/Isuzu auto plant in East Lafayette. It still supports transload today, though not nearly what it was.
ATSF didn’t put much into the TPW, they just expected everyone to fall over to them for the Chicago bypass. But there were more Class 1’s east of Chicago at the time. So the competition was more involved.
Today that plant is serviced directly using CSX. Then they use a stub of an old Pennsy line to Altamont Switch.
KBS (Kankakee, Beaverville & Southern) has access from the west (to the Subaru plant), but I have never seen them take in actual parts, only empties west for pickup via Kankakee.
There are plenty of ways to reach North Baltimore that doesn’t go through Chicago. But since BNSF seems to be driving the boat on this, CSX is taking it where BNSF is willing to drop it off.
You could probably save a day’s travel time if you could reroute around Chicago instead of going through it.
TP&W did in fact have a intermodal facility at Remington. It was operated by BN for several years but I think most of the containers and trailers were from Santa Fe via Ft Madison. During this era, TP&W ran regular intermodal service between Ft. Madison and Remington. This service also served an intermodal facility in East Peoria. Remington is at the intersection of TP&W (also US 24) with I-65 between Chicago and Indianapolis. I think most of the loads were to or from Indiana destinations, not Ohio and Michigan. I think a lot of the traffic was Asian parts for an auto assembly plant in or near Lafayette, if I recall correctly.
No one remembers when ATSF bought Toledo Peoria and Western with the intent of opening a container hub at Remington, Indiana. The connection would have been at Fort Madison, Iowa. The idea was the same as this idea: bring West Coast containers within striking distance of Ohio and Michigan customers. Before I found Remington, Indiana, on a map (I still haven’t), the idea was abandoned and the TP&W was sold off. I don’t know why but my guess is that TP&W just wasn’t up to ATSF standards – it wasn’t much of a railroad. Anyway, the latest attempt – this article – may or may not work out, but spare us the hoopla and the hype. The railroads have had many years to figure out how to get containers across the Chicago divide without rubber – tire interchange. So shut up and just do it.
They’ll be starting a steel wheel interchange with UP soon, if not already up and running. UMAX and steamship boxes. Also CSX there will be a Logistics Park adjacent to NWOH… LIke BNSF LPC and LPKC
Think of this as a BNSF-JB HUNT joint venture “a la Atlanta” and watch it take off
Don Oltmann since CSX greatly truncated their steel wheel destinations over Chicago those lower volume destinations would require an expensive crosstown rubbertire connection (expensive in time and probably also $ given tight dray capacity). And there may be dray capacity issues out of North Baltimore, but maybe I-75 et al will be less congested and the ELD mandate won’t bite as hard.
Regarding the other comments about changes at North Baltimore, this still won’t be a container classification service. That was a failure (certainly in execution and possibly in concept but I’m not yet convinced of that). So now it’s serving as a more traditional origin or destination ramp serving Toledo, Detroit, Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati with moderate (and mostly additive, at least from western points) truck drays.
That’s not to say that block swapping doesn’t happen there. I wonder if SoCal bound blocks from other CSX intemodal trains will drop blocks for this service or if BNSF will create blocks for other CSX destinations to be forwarded east by CSX from North Baltimore.
Finally I’m not sure how this new service will differ substantively from other steel wheel interchange moves over Chicago. With haulage rights the trains still have to wait for a CSX crew after interchange, which adds friction because my understanding is that there’s no visibility that the final BNSF leg of that train has arrived at the interchange point until it shows up.
Should’ve been the plan the whole time….
It seems that CSX now sees value with North Baltimore, after it was nearly wiped off the map not too long ago.
Does anyone remember EHH’s brilliant decision to shut down the North Baltimore yard, even when it had barely begun operations?