Eastern Railroad Discussion > Extending FEC north to Savannah, GA

During the SCL merger, did the Florida East Coast ask for the old Seaboard line to Savannah?  This would have allowed them to connect with the Southern Railway for more of a direct line to the north via Columbia and Charlotte allowing the Southern to compete for traffic from the FEC.  Today, much of traffic flows north from the FEC runs on to CSX for movement to the north.  Unfortunately, most of this route has been abandoned along with the old Southern between Savannah and Columbia.    

CSX runs a lot of intermodal over the FEC. From Miami and Fort Lauderdale to Jacksonville.

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FEC did go to court in an attempt to block the merger or at least extract some concessions from SCL (https://casetext.com/case/florida-east-coast-railway-company-v-united-states). This and similar petitions for denial went to the Supreme Court in 1965 and again in 1967. After the second Supreme Court ruling cleared the way for the merger, it happened quickly.

I do not know of any specific conditions sought by FEC.  

Considering that NS delivers at least three trains per day to the FEC at Bowden, and probably gets as many back, I'd call it misleading to suggest the Southern couldn't compete for FEC interchange using its current route via Valdosta.
 

toledopatch Wrote:
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> Considering that NS delivers at least three trains
> per day to the FEC at Bowden, and probably gets as
> many back, I'd call it misleading to suggest the
> Southern couldn't compete for FEC interchange
> using its current route via Valdosta.
>  

It would be an interestng exercise to map the origins / destinations for FEC intermodal and merchandise trains.  Lots of Ashley furniture, Crowley, Tropical, CSX, FEC, etc boxes and trailers.