Canadian Pacific Kansas City has imposed an 8,500-foot train length restriction on the Meridian Speedway, the shortcut between the Southeast and Southwest that is a joint venture with Norfolk Southern.
The move affects just one train: The daily eastbound domestic intermodal train that CPKC receives from Union Pacific at Shreveport, La., and delivers to NS at Meridian, Miss.
The train, symboled ZLAAI on UP and 28J on NS, was typically 11,000 feet long before CPKC recently mandated that trains fit into the Meridian Speedway’s passing sidings.
The single-track, 302-mile Speedway route between Shreveport and the connection with NS at Meridian has 21 passing sidings, most of which are around 8,500 feet long. Only three of the Speedway’s passing sidings can handle an 11,000-foot train.
Now the 2,500 feet of eastbound overflow traffic that used to move on the UP-NS interline train is running instead via interchange at Memphis — which adds 2 days to the transit time.
UP and NS say they are looking for alternatives.
“We are reviewing this action and are engaging with the other railroads to find efficient solutions,” UP spokeswoman Robynn Tysver says.
“Norfolk Southern is dedicated to meeting the needs of our customers, and we’re working closely with our interline partners to most effectively do so,” NS spokesman Connor Spielmaker says.
The westbound UP-NS service has not been affected because the typical train is around 8,000 feet long.
Intermodal analyst Larry Gross says the longer transit time for containers moving via Memphis may prompt the affected UP and NS customers to jump ship.
“Variability is never a good thing when it comes to intermodal service,” Gross says. “But there is a big difference depending on whether it is international intact containers moving or domestic containers. Since international container transit time is measured in weeks from origin, an additional two days on a transit from the West Coast to the Southeast is probably not a deal-killer. On the other hand, I don’t think it would be acceptable for domestic intermodal volume. But it wouldn’t necessarily go back to the highway. It might go to another carrier/routing but stay on the rail.”
The daily eastbound UP-NS trains, which originate on UP in Los Angeles with containers bound for several destinations in the Southeast, are the only ones that were running over siding length on the Meridian Speedway. The route handles as many as 15 trains per day.
CPKC did not have an immediate comment beyond remarks that CEO Keith Creel made last year. During the Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger hearings in October 2022, Creel said that train lengths should match siding capacity.
Creel was critical of UP’s practice of running trains that were longer than Englewood Yard’s receiving and departure tracks in Houston. CPKC relies on UP trackage rights to run through Houston.
Creel said he understands UP’s desire to run longer trains. “But you can’t let your ambitions get ahead of your physical plant,” Creel said. “You have to match yard capacity with main line capacity, [and] size of trains.”
Meanwhile, UP and CPKC are at loggerheads over merger-related issues.
UP in May asked a federal court to review the Surface Transportation Board’s approval of the CP-KCS merger, arguing that the decision exceeded the board’s authority, was not supported by the evidence, and failed to address potential competitive harms.
In addition, CPKC and UP are locked in a dispute over whether Kansas City Southern trackage rights on UP south of Beaumont, Texas, can be used for unit grain trains that originate on CP in the Upper Midwest.
CPKC contends that it should be able to run the trains to export at the ports of Houston and Galveston on trackage rights that date to UP’s 1988 acquisition of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. UP says that only grain originating around Kansas City, Mo., is eligible to use the so-called South End rights.
The trackage rights case is currently before a federal court and the STB.
In October last year UP booted CP from the EMP domestic container pool, which is a joint venture between UP and NS.
The Meridian Speedway joint venture dates to 2006, when NS contributed $300 million to fund capacity, signal, and track improvements in exchange for a 30% interest in the Kansas City Southern route. Under the Meridian Speedway LLC agreements, NS has haulage rights on the Speedway for intermodal traffic that originates or terminates west of Dallas.
Doncha just love it when they start “barking” at each other !
By complying with CP’s “no train longer than the sidings” UP just might have better “on time” service. Wouldn’t that be novel !
As a former train dispatcher on a territory that, fifty years ago, had three sidings that were in excess of ten-thousand feet long and about sixty miles apart with sidings of 6,500-feet to 8,000-feet between them, delays to the long trains held to meet auto parts or merchandise trains were horrendous. The only thing that made such novelties work was the crews having 14 hours to work.
That management would rather run one long, non-clearing train than two shorter trains shows me a management that cares more about personal financial rewards than running a railroad to serve customers as it’s charter to operate declares its purpose to be.
The CP – STB filing now almost 3 years ago mentioned that there needed to be length limits on east bound trains. That was already a problem under KCS. Funny how UP seems to have forgotten that part of the filing.
NS should have bought 50.1% of the speedway when they made their deal with KCS. They wouldn’t be bitching now about train length. Also,, the CKCP/CSX deal wouldn’t have happened.
Another example of PSR-OR taking precedent. UP/NS would rather lose business than pay another crew to run an extra section.
Actually, that could end up being a solution…
Trains should be able to fit in sidings? Preposterous! What next? Regularly scheduled service?
The current trend of railroads running trains up to 15,000 feet long should be abolished. These trains are a safety hazard causing lengthy road crossing blockages and increased likelihood of train separations. Eighty five hundred feet would be a good maximum length.
If it’s only one eastbound train per day it shouldn’t be a problem. If all the westbounds are under 8,500 feet, have them take the passing track and the 11,000 foot intermodal train stay on the main. A problem only arises when two long trains have to meet.
Allow Amtrak to run a train across the “speedway” and then have them pay to extend the sidings. Win, win for everyone except the taxpayer.
A very good idea.
This is great for the proposed Amtrak service, less freight interference.
Is it THAT much more expensive to pay a second crew?
James is correct just run 2 trains and stop making customers pay the price.It is no wonder more businesses like dealing with trucks instead of listening to railroads whine about having to run xtra trains.
I have to agree with CKCP on this one, why would you run one train that bogs down an entire single track line because it can’t fit into most of the sidings.
James is correct, UP is over complicating things, run two trains.
p.s. it’s almost starting to appear that CKCP and UP are playing tit for tat, maybe they should just learn to get along.
You’re right, especially when Keith Creel says, “…“But you can’t let your ambitions get ahead of your physical plant…”
Let your ambitions get ahead of your physical plant? How ironic! He should have thought of that before he spent 31,000,000,000.00 (zeroes for emphasis) BILLION of CP’s money on the KCS just to tick off Canadian National. And now that he has done it and has found out that KCS was now really only a bridge route, a railroad that mostly didn’t go anywhere except by using other railroad’s tracks to get there, the effort of trying to make a “silk purse out of a sow’s ear” is starting to cause not only operational problems but monetary ones as well. And CN is laughing all the way to their bank. After all, they have found that it is much cheaper and easier to work with people instead of always against them.
UP is making this too difficult. Split the train in Shreveport, and NS can join it back together at Meridian.