On May 15, the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) approved Norfolk Southern’s application for the acquisition of Delaware & Hudson’s “South Lines”. The decision came as no surprise to most involved, as D&H parent Canadian Pacific had been looking to spin off these routes for some time, and NS was already operating several trains daily over the D&H thanks to a trackage rights deal forged more than a decade ago. The core trackage in this sale includes 267 route miles of main line between Sunbury, Pennsylvania, and Schenectady, New York, along with 15 miles of the Voorheesville Running Track between Voorheesville Junction and Delanson, New York. The transaction took effect on June 15.

—Scott Lindsay