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Looks like MAL has filed to abandon the remaining portion of their line, Haggerty Road to Wixom. Freight traffic to APT in 2010, according to the STB filing, was only 52 cars. See the link.

http://docs.stb.dot.gov/?sGet&DlxfTH1WX ... ME0yMAw%3D

jimnorthwood wrote:Looks like MAL has filed to abandon the remaining portion of their line, Haggerty Road to Wixom. Freight traffic to APT in 2010, according to the STB filing, was only 52 cars. See the link.

Thanks for posting the carloads cause I couldn't open the link. It's amazing cause there's almost always a string of 2-8 cars on their spur yet they only received 52 cars for whole year. That's a little less than half what they used to receive 10+ years ago.

I believe APT has agreed to have a transload set up at CSX's Wixom Yard for their pellets to be brought in that way.

Most likely APT can get their plastic pellets cheaper from the transload yard (which looked closed to me last time I looked but I'm assured it is open and operated) than direct delivery. APT is in a pretty cut throat business and like many companies it wouldn't surprise me in these economic times if every penny is important to their survival.

APT said their rates had been raised by MAL which led to them looking for a cheaper alternative. I can't confirm if this is the case or not.

Sad to see this happen, but I can only praise APT for somehow remaining competitive in the face of penny wages and undervalued currency that other plastic manufacturers take advantage of in china

Could CSX buy the line from Wixom just to APT? Would it cost to much for CSX to own a spur? or is it cheaper to just transload them to truck in Wixom?

Sad to see this stretch go. Wish I could have been around in the GTW days.

GTWChris wrote:Could CSX buy the line from Wixom just to APT? Would it cost to much for CSX to own a spur? or is it cheaper to just transload them to truck in Wixom?

Chris, that line so SO far gone for CSX to even want it is a stretch. And look how they run trains now. You think you wanna run a trin 5~ miles to APT for the minimum your gonna make? The STB filing had a cost of over half a million in just maintenance alone. And yes, it would need new ties, rail, etc.

uh James it isn't 5 miles down there it's more like one or two at the most... the whole line is barely 5 miles...

GTWChris wrote:Could CSX buy the line from Wixom just to APT? Would it cost to much for CSX to own a spur? or is it cheaper to just transload them to truck in Wixom?

CSX will make sure its cheaper to transload than to buy the 2.5-3 mile segment from Wixom to APT. There are companies who receive far more cars than APT who have direct rail service who still choose transloading vs direct service because its cheaper. I don't know why it works that way cause it seems like direct service would cost less but that's the way it is in some cases

AARR wrote:

GTWChris wrote:Could CSX buy the line from Wixom just to APT? Would it cost to much for CSX to own a spur? or is it cheaper to just transload them to truck in Wixom?

CSX will make sure its cheaper to transload than to buy the 2.5-3 mile segment from Wixom to APT. There are companies who receive far more cars than APT who have direct rail service who still choose transloading vs direct service because its cheaper. I don't know why it works that way cause it seems like direct service would cost less but that's the way it is in some cases

Same reason that intermodal often replaces boxcars.It's cheaper to move larger blocks of cars to centrally located transloading facilities and have the product shipped the last few miles by truck than to have a local job perform extensive switching just to spot 1-2 cars a month at an industry a few miles up or down the line. It is also cheaper to use government roads that will be maintained to the same basic quality regardless of a few more trucks to a plant than it is to spend considerable money in maintaining a private line or spur just to handle several carloads monthly.

Believe me (since I work in every day as a pricing analyst) a company can easily get their customers to do what they want with the proper pricing strategy. Obviously, CSX gets "ecconomies of scale" at their transload facility, contrasted to handing off the occasional car to the shortline (who gets a cut) to take down to APT.
They (APT) may also be able to take the pellets from the transload on an "as needed" basis instead of either unloading the entire car - and having the resulting inventory. CSX may absorb the per day car fees as an enticement to use their facility as well. In any event, would CSX get a sufficient return on the investment( - in a decent timeframe) to buy the line segment, even with slapping a surcharge on each car handled? Probably not.

AARR wrote:

GTWChris wrote:Could CSX buy the line from Wixom just to APT? Would it cost to much for CSX to own a spur? or is it cheaper to just transload them to truck in Wixom?

CSX will make sure its cheaper to transload than to buy the 2.5-3 mile segment from Wixom to APT. There are companies who receive far more cars than APT who have direct rail service who still choose transloading vs direct service because its cheaper. I don't know why it works that way cause it seems like direct service would cost less but that's the way it is in some cases