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| Cost of maintaining a rail line 29/06/2013 at 21:39 #46172 | |
GeoffM
6282 posts |
Does anybody have any ballpark figures for the cost of maintaining and operating a railway line? Obviously it's going to depend on a large number of variables but anything would be helpful at this stage. The type of line is probably best described as slightly hilly, a couple of tunnels, single track with passing loops, colour light signalling, around 70mph passenger speeds, but nothing too out of the ordinary.
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| Cost of maintaining a rail line 30/06/2013 at 13:29 #46179 | |
Stephen Fulcher
2026 posts 
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Twenty times what it would have cost twenty years ago.
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| Cost of maintaining a rail line 01/07/2013 at 03:52 #46216 | |
dmaze
88 posts |
For a data point, you could look at the 2012 annual report for the Provdidence and Worcester Railroad as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This is a U.S. freight-only railroad, principally operating in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, with connections to larger U.S. railroads (in particular, a connection to CSX in Worcester, MA; also to Norfolk Southern via its joint line with Pan Am Railways at Gardner, MA and Ayer, MA). The report states that the P&W owns 163 miles, and also has operating rights over Amtrak's Northeast Corridor in Rhode Island and Connecticut, for a total of 516 miles (see page I-6). The 163 miles of P&W are largely single-track and unsignaled, and maintained to FRA class 3 standards; that would allow 40 mph operation for freight trains (and 60 mph for passenger trains, were there any). The accounting cost to run this railroad in 2012 was US$27,479,000; that's a number that includes the cost of maintaining the track and equipment, paying employees, leasing rail cars and other equipment, amounts paid to other railroads to use their track, and a fraction of past capital expenses. The report also notes that the P&W intends to spend between US$2 and 3 million per year on capital track improvement projects (page II-7). You can probably find similar reports for other US railroads that have publicly-traded stock. The larger the railroad, though, the more diverse its operations will be, but also likely the better its track; the CSX main line from Worcester, MA west to Selkirk, NY, for instances, is much closer to what you describe (largely single track, at least a couple of tunnels, 45-60 mph, automatic signals) though it'll be hard to isolate that in particular from the rest of the CSX eastern US network and other business interests. Log in to reply |
| Cost of maintaining a rail line 01/07/2013 at 16:45 #46219 | |
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GeoffM
6282 posts |
" said:For a data point...Many thanks, that's very useful. SimSig Boss Log in to reply |
| Cost of maintaining a rail line 13/07/2013 at 03:03 #47062 | |
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maxand
1637 posts |
This article doesn't answer your question, but throws some light on other factors involved in the equation: Transport companies suck $2.6 billion I wish we in Australia could return to the days before privatization of everything. Log in to reply The following user said thank you: GeoffM |