The Florida Gulf & Atlantic Railroad, which expects to begin operations on the line on or around Jan. 6, disclosed the trackage-rights agreement this week in a regulatory filing with the U.S. Surface Transportation Board.
CSX has no plans to regularly operate its trains over the line linking the Jacksonville area with Pensacola.
Instead, the trackage rights will be an insurance policy that provides CSX with operational flexibility.
“CSX negotiated trackage and haulage rights through the Florida Panhandle to maintain connectivity with other parts of our rail network in the event of an emergency or natural disaster requiring the rerouting of train traffic for a significant period of time,” the railroad said in a statement. “This agreement would enable CSX to reroute overhead train traffic on the line and continue serving customers in other areas of the network. CSX has no plans to operate trains over the line or request haulage services from the new operator as a part of our normal service, and the agreement does not grant CSX access to customers along the line.”
Florida Gulf & Atlantic will be the second acquisition for RailUSA, a new company headed by Gary Marino, who founded shortline holding companies RailAmerica and Patriot Rail. RailUSA is a subsidiary of International Rail Partners. Both companies are based in Boca Raton, Fla.
The line sale will be the second in CSX’s line rationalization program. The first was the Decatur & Eastern Illinois Railroad, which Watco began operating in September.
Traffic on the 126.7-mile DE&I is triple initial expectations, says Stefan Loeb, Watco’s chief commercial officer.
