Neutral operator proposed for New Orleans rail gateway

Privately held rail infrastructure developer and operator County Line Rail (CLR) has filed notice with the Surface Transportation Board of its intention to create the New Orleans Terminal Railroad Co. (NOTR). The new railroad would operate the New Orleans rail gateway as a neutral, open-access facility available to every Class I and Amtrak.

New Orleans is the only deep-water port in the United States served by all six Class Is and Amtrak, all of which own track and operate through the terminal area. However, control of the two pathways across the gateway is currently divided between two carriers. Norfolk Southern Railway dispatches the New Orleans Terminal Back Belt Line, and Union Pacific Railroad dispatches the Mississippi River crossing at the Huey P. Long Bridge.

If UP and NS merge without any conditions, the ownership and dispatch control of most cross-terminal train movements at the port gateway would be in the hands of a single carrier that also competes for the traffic moving over those tracks, CLR officials said in a press release. CLR on Sept. 4 filed a description of anticipated responsive application with the STB in Docket No. FD 36873, the proceeding concerning the proposed UP-NS merger.

The filing sets out the transaction NOTR intends to present to the board in its responsive application. Rather than enforcing temporary pricing conditions to ensure neutrality at the port's rail gateways should the UP-NS merger be completed, CLR proposes that NOTR assume ownership and dispatch control over them.

In its responsive application, NOTR will seek STB authority to:

• Acquire from NS the Back Belt Line, about 7.7 miles from Oliver Junction to East City Junction and from East City Junction to the CN/IC Connection, on compensation terms agreed by the parties or set by the STB. NOTR would assume full responsibility for maintaining and upgrading the line;
• Dispatch freight and passenger trains over about 13.6 miles of track along the line and related terminal trackage; and
• Align the CN interlockers at East Bridge Junction Tower, removing a long-standing operating constraint on cross-terminal interchange.

NOTR would have its own financial resources and access to additional capital via its affiliation with CLR, company officials said. Bryan Boaz, CLR's chief commercial officer, will serve as president of NOTR.

Under the structure proposed by CLR in its filing:

• No Class I would hold an ownership interest in NOTR, at formation or any time thereafter;
• NOTR would publish a single tariff, with prices and terms applicable to every Class I and Amtrak on the same basis;
• NOTR would not participate in any line-haul movement; therefore it would not change the rates, routes or terms that any Class I offers its customers; and
• NOTR would not seek to disturb the existing rights of carriers to serve shippers already located on the affected lines.