I know the Arizona & California ran to Blythe,Ca. Recently someone brought up the thought that they had heard about a new shortline in Blythe. They couldn't recall any details but thought they had heard something. I can't find anything on the net with a quick search. The question: Is there a new shortline at Blythe,CA (freight or tourist) or is it still the ARZC?? Thanks for any help you can give.
John, I don't know of any new one, but I also did not know the the AZ & CA ran to Blythe. I thought they connected to BNSF at Cadiz, ran to Parker, then on to a junction at the south end of the Peavine, and into Phoenix. :tb-confused:
Blythe is indeed served by the Arizona & California. It is near the end of a branchline that connects with the A&C mainline at Rice, a few miles east of Cadiz. I have not heard one way or another on if there is a new shortline operating over the branch or not, but I did find an interesting letter to the STB on their website. The letter was written by a lawyer representing a group of shippers in Blythe and was sent to the STB around late October or early November of last year. According to the letter, Arizona & California embargoed the line to Blythe and currently in the process of initiating abandoment proceedings. They are doing all of the required consultations with government agencies and the like prior to actually submitting an abandonment application to the STB, and the shipper's group was filing a pre-emptive strike presenting responses to a lot of the statements A&C is making in their consultation letters. I don't remember the docket number off hand, but I stumbled upon it while opening random links in the Correspondence-Environmental section of the STB website. One of the most interesting things is that the shipper's group pulled a lot of things out of CORP's issues with the Coos Bay branch and southern end of the Siskiyou line as examples of how disingenuous Rail America is being as a company and relating it back to the pending abandonment of the branch. Bottom line is that it appears Arizone & California may be attempting to abandon the line, which may be prompting efforts to find a replacement operator. Jeff Moore Elko, NV
While I don't have any first hand or concrete knowledge, I've heard from a couple of other RA employees that the ARZC has been considering abandoning the line for a couple of years because of continued dwindling carloads despite several efforts (and one fairly expensive track program) to entice more customers and more volume onto the branch. Unfortunately, that area of Californa's been in a prolonged economic downturn and I doubt we'll see it rebound anytime soon so a publically funded rail district may be the only way to get the costs low enough to be able have rail operations out there. Interestingly enough, the branch isn't shown on the updated ARZC railway map that is available on the new RailAmerica website, but that doesn't mean much as those maps have a history of being wrong. :mbiggrin:
