Can someone help me to understand the logic as to why CSX dumped the SAL Atl to Birm mainline in favor of the WAY out of the way and circuitous route through LaGrange that goes past Birmingham then curves back to it?
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That whole region between ATL and Birmingham is very hilly. Maybe the current route is actually faster?
Maybe CSX just doesn't have enough traffic between those two cities to justify keeping both routes open?
There are scores of variables that come into play when a railroad makes a decision like this. Flash touched on one by mentioning grades. If a railroad runs an extra 50 miles but in the process avoids several steep grades, that's a deal that will get done every time.
Other variables that would be considered:
- Maintenance Life Cycle and Rail Condition
How old are the ties and rail on each line? Where are they in their life cycle? When will they have to be replaced, upgraded, etc.
What size rail is in place? - Crew Costs
Perhaps the existing line has lower crew costs than the one that was abandoned. - Operating Costs
If a line is loaded with grades, it is more expensive to operate than a more gently graded railroad...even if the gently graded line is longer. Grades usually mean bridges...another high-cost maintenance item. - On-Line Business
Which line has the most customers?
There are many more, but you get the idea.
Originally Posted by OGR Webmaster:
There are scores of variables that come into play when a railroad makes a decision like this. Flash touched on one by mentioning grades. If a railroad runs an extra 50 miles but in the process avoids several steep grades, that's a deal that will get done every time.
Other variables that would be considered:
- Maintenance Life Cycle and Rail Condition
How old are the ties and rail on each line? Where are they in their life cycle? When will they have to be replaced, upgraded, etc.
What size rail is in place? - Crew Costs
Perhaps the existing line has lower crew costs than the one that was abandoned. - Operating Costs
If a line is loaded with grades, it is more expensive to operate than a more gently graded railroad...even if the gently graded line is longer. Grades usually mean bridges...another high-cost maintenance item. - On-Line Business
Which line has the most customers?
There are many more, but you get the idea.
It's the bean counters fault!
Larry
Don't you just love these rhetorical questions that really have no answer?
Because they can.
I still think the old SAL north of Norlina would have made a good bypass to the ACL Line to ease congestion...but then the traffic volumes didn't exist when the decision was made.
The Atl - Birm SAL main was eyed by BNSF as access to Atlanta. I read several sources state that is the main reason CSX/Seaboard System dumped it.
Originally Posted by Mike W.:
Can someone help me to understand the logic as to why CSX dumped the SAL Atl to Birm mainline in favor of the WAY out of the way and circuitous route through LaGrange that goes past Birmingham then curves back to it?
The SAL line from Atlanta to Birmingham route was a well-engineered, fast route that arrived in Birmingham too late to serve the steel industry, and which had practically no online industry between Birmingham and Atlanta. In addition, there was very little freight traffic that naturally flowed through Birmingham to Atlanta. (Most of if reaches Atlanta via Chattanooga.) Traffic that flows through Birmingham on what is now CSX is north-south traffic, and always has been.
The ACL route still in service today (which didn't actually enter Birmingham, but ended in the ACL yard / L&N interchange in Elyton) "goes past Birmingham" because Red Mountain prevented railroads from building southeast directly. The L&N, ACL, and Southern (to Selma and Mobile) all chose to go around Red Mountain to the southwest, through Bessemer. The CofG, Southern (to Atlanta and Chattanooga), and SAL chose to head northeast through Irondale . (Oddly enough, the ACL and CofG actually cross again at Vincent. Go figure.)
My understanding is that CSX traffic from Birmingham to Atlanta today departs the former L&N yard on the north side of Birmingham, and switches from the L&N to the ACL at Parkwood (the ACL between Elyton and Parkwood is abandoned) for the trip east to Manchester before turning north to Atlanta on the former ACL. As far as I know, switching to the A&WP at LaGrange would entail a crew change.
The SAL line is still in use from Birmingham to Wellington, AL, near Anniston, where it connects to a former L&N line into Gadsden. There is also a segment between Cedartown, GA and Rockmart, GA, still served by CSX via the former L&N between Rockmart and Cartersville.
From outside Atlanta to Rockmart, and again from Cedartown to Piedmont, AL, the route is a very popular bike trail.
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Great info. Thanks!
Very interesting. Thank you!
