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Vermont Rail System Files Objection to CSX-Pan Am Deal

A Vermont Rail System freight at Bartonsville, Vt. in 2015. Photo by Steve Barry. 

Vermont Rail System Files Objection to CSX-Pan Am Deal

By Justin Franz 

WASHINGTON — CSX Transportation says their plan to take over Pan Am Railways would result in a major “realignment” of the New England rail landscape and the Vermont Rail System says that’s not a good thing. 

On Tuesday, Vermont Rail System blasted CSX’s plan to take over PAR and hand control of the former Boston & Maine west of Ayer, Mass., to Genesee & Wyoming. VRS called it “anti-competitive” and urged the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to reject the application, stating that CSX’s plan is “incomplete” and should not be fast-tracked as a “minor” transaction as the Class I has hoped. While CSX had hoped to seal the deal for PAR this year, the filing from VRS means the transaction could become a prolonged battle before the governing board. 

In February, CSX filed its plan to take over PAR with the STB. As part of the deal, Genesee & Wyoming will operate Pan Am Southern — a joint venture between Pan Am and Norfolk Southern in Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut — and NS will get trackage rights over CSX’s Boston Line so that it can move double-stack trains to Ayer, Mass. The new G&W line would be called Berkshire & Eastern.

But VRS has taken issue with G&W taking Pan Am Southern and notes that the corporate short line operator already has four other railroads in the region: New England Central, Providence & Worcester, Connecticut Southern and St. Lawrence & Atlantic. It notes that if the deal were to go through, five of VRS’ seven interchange points would be controlled by the G&W. A major point of the contention is the New England Central’s Conn River Line between East Northfield, Mass., and White River Junction, Vt., which is used by both NECR and PAS. If PAS were to become part of G&W, suddenly one carrier would control the Conn River Line, thus “eliminating independent rail service” along the corridor. 

In its conclusion, VRS asked the board to reject the initial filing and have CSX and G&W file a joint petition so that it can consider all impacts of the deal. 

“(We) expect that CSXT, G&W, NECR and others will engage VRS in discussions to resolve VRS’s concerns. But, until those concerns are resolved, VRS has no choice but to contest the Petition, and highlight its anticompetitive harms,” the railroad’s attorneys write. 

In an emailed statement to Railfan & Railroad, a CSX spokesperson writes that “CSX will be filing a responsive comment at the STB and until that time has no further comment.”

This article was posted on: March 16, 2021