Western Railroad Discussion > Trackage Rights, How Do They Work?

I have a question about trackage rights. Now that the U.P. has opened their new yard right near the BNSF LPC near Joliet, IL there is much discussion between us BNSF guy's on the "balls" they had to open when the only access they have to get to their yard is to use the BNSF Transcon.
Yes, I know that we use their tracks too.
So how does it work?
Is there money involved?
Mileage recorded?
Or just use what you want when you want?
I would like to know along with many others.

Trackage rights are governed by specific agreements for each section of railroad involved, and approved by the STB. The agreements include how the tenant railroad pays for its use of the host's tracks, and can restrict the number of trains and the types of cargoes the tenant railroad can carry. For example, the trackage-rights agreement under which the Wheeling & Lake Erie operates over Norfolk Southern between Bellevue and Toledo, Ohio, restricts the W&LE to one train per day in each direction. The trackage-rights agreement under which Norfolk Southern operates over Canadian Pacific between Saratoga Springs and Binghamton, New York, specifies that the NS trains may only haul traffic generated as a result of that those rights' introduction, not anything that had been interchanged between NS and CP previously; in practice, I believe that basically allowed NS to move some of its CN interchange business from Buffalo to Montreal. I believe the UP trackage rights operation over the former Santa Fe main line between Chicago and Kansas City, inherited from SP which got it as a concession of the BNSF merger, is restricted to intermodal traffic.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/17/11 15:34 by toledopatch.

There are also financial aspects to trackage rights. The host railroad typically charges money per axle per mile. The amount charged is typically highest for power axles, then loaded axles and lastly the empty axles are cheapest.

Then you can get into "overhead" rights which is point to point use of trackage
subject to previously mentioned conditions and beyond that "switching" rights
which would allow servicing customers en route. Good example would be the BNSF
rights on the UP Central Corridor which are overhead plus switching.

And many of the Class 1 railroads have multiple trackage rights agreements with each other, and each has a varying importance to each road. In Fred Frailey's "Blue Streak Merchandise" there is an excellent example of how it works when each carrier has some significant impact over others operation. It's a lot like "mutually assured destruction" with nukes, or a balance of power.

Can rights be lost if not used?

I just have to add that every trackage rights arrangement has it's own agreement. The agreements can all be very different, sometimes having financial compensation, sometimes not.

If I remember correctly, the UP trackage rights over BNSF's Chilicothe and Marceline Sub's came from UP's approval of the BNSF merger (of course, there's much more too it). Somewhere in the joint facilities office is a copy of the agreement, but most of us have never read it and don't know the specific details of the agreement. However, there may be a railfan that works in Joint Facilities.

millerdc Wrote:
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> Can rights be lost if not used?


My understanding is not arbitrarily, the host railroad would have to go to the STB and get the trackage rights terminated.

Be interesting to check that out, I seem to remember that the BNSF Central Corridor
train is run to retain rights ie expire if not used.

rehunn Wrote:
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> Be interesting to check that out, I seem to
> remember that the BNSF Central Corridor
> train is run to retain rights ie expire if not
> used.

It's quite plausible to me that such a use-it-or-lose-it provision could be part of a trackage-rights deal.

bnsfengineer Wrote:
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> I have a question about trackage rights. Now that
> the U.P. has opened their new yard right near the
> BNSF LPC near Joliet, IL there is much discussion
> between us BNSF guy's on the "balls" they had to
> open when the only access they have to get to
> their yard is to use the BNSF Transcon.

The BNSF Chillicothe Sub is not the only way to access their Global 4 yard near LPC. There are leads to the yard from both the BNSF and from their mainline on the east side of the yard.

It's of great benefit when discussing trackage rights to also delve into the topic of haulage rights. This 2006 TRAINS MAGAZINE article does just that:

http://trn.trains.com/en/sitecore/content/Home/Railroad%20Reference/ABCs%20of%20Railroading/2006/05/Trackage%20and%20haulage%20rights.aspx

Fred Harrison
Central Point, OR
CORPpower/JSS/EORS

The 3-5 daily coal trains from the Powder River basin to Georgia Power's Plant Scherer take the BNSF as far as Memphis.

They proceed east (still with all BNSF power) from Memphis on the NS main to Stevenson, AL and then over the CSX to Chattanooga where they rejoin the NS to the final destination -- and vice versa.

Am I correct in saying that on the portion from Memphis to Chattanooga this BNSF train is a "tenant" on two "owner" railroads?

If so, who pays whom for what?

TIA

Fritz in HSV, AL

About 15 years ago I was working as a consultant, and I was asked to review every joint facility agreement on Conrail. These included trackage rights, haulage rights, agreements to maintain track and signals at diamonds and other interlockings, reciprocal switching agreements, you name it.

There is no template. Compensation basis varies widely. Sometimes it's by ton mile, sometimes by car mile, sometimes by train mile, sometimes by number of switches and signals maintained by each railroad at a crossing or junction. Sometimes trackage rights are "overhead" (through operations only), but sometimes rights are granted to switch specific customers which the "foreign" railroad reaches over the host railroad.

I don't recall any "use it or lose it" agreements on Conrail, but that doesn't mean they can't be written that way. Basically, each agreement is reached between the two (or more) parties involved, and the terms are defined through negotiation.

There is a difference between 'trackage rights' and
'joint facilities and rights'...depends how the contract
is written and agreed to....

navy5717th Wrote:
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> The 3-5 daily coal trains from the Powder River
> basin to Georgia Power's Plant Scherer take the
> BNSF as far as Memphis.
>
> They proceed east (still with all BNSF power) from
> Memphis on the NS main to Stevenson, AL and then
> over the CSX to Chattanooga where they rejoin the
> NS to the final destination -- and vice versa.
>
> Am I correct in saying that on the portion from
> Memphis to Chattanooga this BNSF train is a
> "tenant" on two "owner" railroads?
>
> If so, who pays whom for what?

No, east of Memphis it's a Norfolk Southern train, with pooled ("run-through") BNSF power -- not a BNSF train.

The NS route to Plant Scherer includes a stretch of trackage rights on CSX. So NS pays CSX for the use of its tracks per their agreement for Stevenson-Chattanooga.

Power pooling is a whole 'nother issue. The railroads keep track of how long their locomotives spend on foreign lines' rails, and they periodically account for the "horsepower-hours owed". If too great of an imbalance develops, the "debtor" railroad may have to compensate the "creditor" in cash or by assigning some of its locomotives to the creditor. In some cases, debtor railroads have leased locomotives specifically to provide to the creditor for its use to pay off such debts.

toledopatch Wrote:
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> No, east of Memphis it's a Norfolk Southern train,
> with pooled ("run-through") BNSF power -- not a
> BNSF train.

So if it is a run-through train but changes roads, does that mean a crew change at the interchange point? Or does/can the original crew "run through" along with the power? (Assuming of course they are qualified on the line.)

lwilton Wrote:
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> toledopatch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > No, east of Memphis it's a Norfolk Southern
> train,
> > with pooled ("run-through") BNSF power -- not a
> > BNSF train.
>
> So if it is a run-through train but changes roads,
> does that mean a crew change at the interchange
> point? Or does/can the original crew "run
> through" along with the power? (Assuming of
> course they are qualified on the line.)

Crews change at the interchange point. A foreign-road crew would only operate a train in a trackage-rights situation. You don't routinely have crews qualified for territories for which you don't have operating rights, either.

One other interesting note: trackage rights are a property right. If the host or owning railroad wants to abandon (or discontinue), the trackage rights holder or tenant has the right to acquire for net liquidation value (I am not sure how the discontinuance would work, but likely the STB would deny discontinuance if the tenant disagreed).