A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that operates over a relatively short distance relative to larger, national railroad networks. The term is used primarily in the United States and Canada. In the former, railroads are categorized by operating revenue, and most shortline railroads fall into the Class III or Class II categorization defined by the Surface Transportation Board .
19-415: The Westinghouse Interworks Railway was a short line railroad that operated in the lower Turtle Creek valley east of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania . A subsidiary of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation , the railway used former Turtle Creek Valley Railroad tracks that Westinghouse rebuilt and extended from Trafford through Wilmerding to East Pittsburgh along the right bank (northern side) of
38-416: A Class III is a railroad with an annual operating revenue of less than $ 28 million. In Canada , Transport Canada classifies shortline railroads as Class II . There are three kinds of shortlines in the U.S.: handling, switch, and ISS (Interline Settlement System). It was reported in 2009 that shortline railroads employ 20,000 people in the U.S., and own 30 percent of the nation's railroad tracks. About
57-679: A civil engineer for the PRR, was assigned as superintendent of the Interworks Railway in June 1903. The Interworks Railway began limited service on August 9, 1903, and became fully operational on December 1, 1904. This company shipped raw materials and finished products between the Westinghouse facilities charging tonnage fees for the freight and hourly fees for the labor. The line shuttled factory workmen to and from their jobs as well. Ridership on this line
76-440: A quarter of all U.S. rail freight travels at least a small part of its journey over a short-line railroad. An ever-growing number of shortline operators have been acquired by larger holding companies which own or lease railroad properties in many states, as well as internationally. For example, Genesee & Wyoming controls over 100 railroads in over 40 U.S. states and four Canadian provinces. A consequence of such consolidation
95-481: Is that shortline railroads may no longer be "by state". Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission ( PUC ) is the public utility commission in the beninging Pennsylvania . It is composed of five commissioners, which are appointed by the governor with the consent of the Pennsylvania State Senate . The PUC oversees public utility and services operations in
114-503: The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission agreed that the county was obligated to replace them. Local civic leaders as well as neighboring businessmen voiced their objections, questioning the wisdom of using public funds to restore unused track, arguing that the money could have been better spent. The county ultimately spent $ 365,000 restoring the rails. The 10.114 acres of vacant industrial land on which they lie
133-439: The electrical grid . PUC oversees ordinances for gas exploration and extraction at Marcellus Shale . The commission is responsible for collecting and distributing the impact fee in the state. In November 2014, the commission granted Uber a two year experimental license to operate throughout Pennsylvania. In 2014, an annual PUC survey found that more than 23,000 Pennsylvania households without heat. In November 2018,
152-518: The Pennsylvania Railroad. A large flood control project stretching from the 1950s through the '60s included a change to the banks of the Turtle Creek waterway that required the removal of Interworks tracks between Wilmerding and Pitcairn , and the decision was made not to rebuild them. Thus on September 30, 1962, the rail link on the right bank of Turtle Creek between Trafford and Wilmerding
171-598: The Regional Industrial Development Corporation of Southwestern Pennsylvania ( RIDC ) who also purchased the old Westinghouse Electric plant adjacent to the rail, renaming it, "The Keystone Commons". Since this acquisition some limited rail activity has been observed at the southernmost section of The Commons in East Pittsburgh, where a locomotive from the adjoining Union Railroad has been occasionally spotted pushing deliveries. Farther north in
190-514: The borough of Turtle Creek the remainder of the tracks appear to have fallen into prolonged disuse, as it was reported that no trains have traveled there since the 1980s. Controversy over this idle section of track arose in 2014 when Allegheny County replaced the Greensburg Pike bridge, which passed over the remnants of the railway. The rails had to be temporarily removed during part of the bridge constriction; their owner wanted them replaced, and
209-600: The commonwealth, in sectors including water, energy, telecommunications, and transportation. State code requires separation of the five commissioners and an investigatory division. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has roots in the founding of the Pennsylvania State Railroad Commission, which was founded in 1907. In 1913, the railroad commission was replaced with the Pennsylvania Public Service Commission (PSC). In 1937,
SECTION 10
#1733270710458228-535: The creek. The railroad transported freight between the Westinghouse plants and also tested and demonstrated electric rail cars. The Westinghouse Interworks Railway was chartered on February 25, 1902, and on April 8 of the following year the company signed a 25-year lease allowing its trains to operate over a portion of the East Pittsburgh Branch owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). J.C. Bair,
247-524: The following reasons: In France, the equivalent of shortlines railroads are the opérateurs ferroviaires de proximité (local railways operators). Because of their small size and generally low revenues, the great majority of shortline railroads in the U.S. are classified by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) as Class III . As defined by the Surface Transportation Board (STB),
266-473: The much larger railroad from which it leased track rights; he was known to often say, “Our tracks may not be as long as the Pennsylvania’s, but they’re just as wide.” A 21st century evaluation also echoed the relative importance of the Westinghouse interworks Railway, opining that it had played a greater role in the creation and growth of the borough of Trafford than did the neighboring Turtle Creek Branch of
285-612: The passage of Act 43 mandated the replacement of the Public Service Commission with the Public Utility Commission, which was chartered to oversee and regulate all public utilities operating in Pennsylvania . In June 2006, PUC provided standards for metering of small alternative energy suppliers, including solar and biodigesters. The standards specify how electric distribution companies reimburse small suppliers to
304-853: Was assessed at $ 39,700 in 2017. No specific plans to restore train service on the tracks were reported. Short line railroad At the beginning of the railroad age, nearly all railway lines were shortlines, locally chartered, financed and operated; as the railroad industry matured, local lines were merged or acquired to create longer mainline railroads. Especially since 1980 in the U.S. and 1990 in Canada, many shortlines have been established when larger railroad companies sold off or abandoned low-profit portions of their trackage. Shortline operators typically have lower labor, overhead and regulatory costs than Class I railroads and therefore are often able to operate profitable lines that lost money for their original owners. Shortlines generally exist for one or more of
323-489: Was not limited to workmen, and the vehicles that rode the rails were not limited to steam powered freight trains. A portion of the railway was electrified, allowing its use for the testing and promotion of Westinghouse's new electric trains. One such promotional event occurred in 1905, when during an international railway congress the track was used to demonstrate a new 1500 horsepower Baldwin-Westinghouse single-phase alternating-current electric locomotive. This locomotive type
342-554: Was severed, and nearly all of its track between these two boroughs was eventually removed. Most of this track-bed now lies abandoned, save for a fraction of a mile in Wilmerding which became the Airbrake Avenue Walking Trail. Proposals exist to convert the rest of the abandoned line into a rail-trail as well. The remaining portion of the railroad west of Wilmerding was never formally abandoned, and has been acquired by
361-475: Was then shipped out of the plant via the railway in 1906. By 1938 the railway owned over 40 pieces of rolling stock, which it operated along five miles of track between Trafford and East Pittsburgh. Maps indicate that Westinghouse owned only the portions of the track nearest its facilities, with the connecting segments being owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad company. However long-term Interworks Railway superintendent J.C. Bair believed his company compared well to
#457542