CSX To Build $40 Million in Railways on the Northside

[Steve]

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- Several First Coast Leaders and CSX Corporation officials announced this morning that CSX will build $40 million in railways on the Northside.

Leaders The North Main Street bypass project will help the city move goods in and out of JAXPORT. They say moving the cargo in and out on trains will be more effective because it will reduce traffic on the Northside.

Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, US Congressman Corrine Brown, several City Council members and officials from CSX and JAXPORT were at this morning's press conference.

First Coast News Roger Weeder will have more on this story starting on First Coast News at noon.

http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/topstories/news-article.aspx?storyid=107471

[thelakelander]

The Good News:

CSX just freed up capacity throughout the Northside for Urban Commuter Rail, with the decision to relocate the majority of existing and future rail traffic north of the airport.  With the port bypass in place, its more feasible to eliminate BRT's SW and North corridors and replace them with rail based mass transit.

The Bad News

The port's rail problems still will not be solved.  Neither FEC nor NS have direct links to any of these new terminals or Blount Island.  This means that the majority of their freight will still be shipped cross town on trucks to their railyards.

[thelakelander]

You can't fault CSX for that.  Its a sound business decision on their part.  They already have exclusivity for everything in that area of town, including Blount Island and Mitsui.  Unless the city and port purchase CSX's existing lines, those terminals will never have multiple rail carrier options.

[thelakelander]

CSX Corp. plans to spend $40 million to connect its Northeast Jacksonville rail spur to its main line along U.S. 1 so that trains going to and from new container terminals being built or planned don't have to travel through town to its Westside rail yard.

The bypass initiative is linked to the Jacksonville Port Authority's plans to develop an intermodal container transfer facility on the Northside to receive containers from the soon-to-open TraPac Inc. terminal at Dames Point and a proposed Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd. terminal nearby. Combined, the two terminals are projected to have a capacity of 1.8 million 20-foot-equivalent units of containerized cargo a year.

CSX (NYSE: CSX) would expect to generate at least two trains a day of about 280 containers each to make a North Main Street bypass economically viable, said Chief Financial Officer Clarence Gooden, who announced the initiative Monday during a news conference at the authority's Blount Island Marine Terminal.

"Jacksonville lends itself to being one of the first ports of call on the East Coast" for ships coming through the Panama Canal, Gooden said. "Having our interests aligned -- CSX, the port, city and state -- we'll all move in the right direction."

The announcement was heralded by public officials, including Mayor John Peyton, City Council President Daniel Davis and U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown. Getting as many containers off the road as possible is vital to striking a balance between economic development and quality of life, Peyton said.

Besides an ICTF, CSX's plan depends to some degree on the Florida Legislature approving a plan to buy 61 miles of CSX track in Central Florida for a commuter rail system. CSX plans to use some of the money from selling that line to fund the bypass line, Gooden said.

If the Legislature approves the deal, the sale could close in the fall and the company could have the project going within 18 months, Gooden said. If the sale doesn't go through, CSX's plans would be slowed.

In any event, CSX would not proceed with construction until it is assured the plans for an ICTF are progressing, Gooden said. "We'd like to move in parallel with that."

But CSX will work on acquiring right of way as soon as possible, he said, so that it's ready whenever the port authority is.

For the authority's part, it has received about 15 to 20 responses to a request for interest in investing in port-related infrastructure, including an ICTF, Chief Financial Officer Ron Baker said. From there, the authority will hold public meetings, issue a request for proposal and choose strategic partners.

"The goal," Baker said, "is moving large volumes of containers on rail."

Those guys at CSX are smart to tie this in with the Orlando commuter rail deal.  This gives them another edge at getting that huge deal approved despite heavy opposition in Central Florida communities like Tampa and Lakeland.

[raheem942]

if this seems like a good cropreate move it might really happen im given this projet 2 thumbs up