Coal trains fewer as Appalachian railroads keep rolling [View all]

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Coal trains fewer as Appalachian railroads keep rolling

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 28, 2017 at 11:28 pm

By Michael Virtanen, The Associated Press

MATOAKA, W.Va. —
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As the coal industry has fallen on lean times, so too have the businesses that supplied the mines, equipped miners and hauled coal out of the West Virginia mountains none more visible than the trains that once thundered around the clock along the shoulders of these hills.

Now, with a coal operator in the governor’s office and an outspoken advocate for coal in the White House, many are watching for signs of life from a business that once represented the living embodiment of an industry on the move. The major railroads here, Norfolk Southern and CSX, each formed from decades of mergers, have continued to post profits while shedding personnel, idling equipment and cutting overhead. And lately they’re expressing measured optimism about what lies ahead.
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CSX and Norfolk Southern, West Virginia’s remaining Class I railroads, still operate across much of the state. West Virginia’s rail plan showed them using 2,100 miles of track four years ago. ... Norfolk Southern currently has about 33 of its 800 miles of track idled. CSX declined to say how much track is idle but says it hasn’t made any major changes this year.

The state’s 2013 rail plan cited freight trains carrying more than 115 million tons on almost 1.1 million cars, 88 percent coal. Tonnage was down 28 percent from a dozen years earlier as Appalachian coal lost ground to western and foreign mines and other fuels.