JAIL Marketing

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chapmaja
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JAIL Marketing

Unread post by chapmaja »

I am just wondering what the marketing is like for this railroad. I just realized how unique their postion can be, depending on what is allowed from their agreement for the line. Rarely does a shortline like JAIL have potential access to all three eastern Class 1's. Within a 40 mile stretch of trackage. If the old plant sites in Lansing could be redeveloped into something using Rail, JAIL could be in a great position to benefit.

MiddleMI
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Re: JAIL Marketing

Unread post by MiddleMI »

chapmaja wrote:
Sun Jan 01, 2023 11:47 am
If the old plant sites in Lansing could be redeveloped into something using Rail, JAIL could be in a great position to benefit.
And therein lies the rub. The city and region have generally been very disinterested in the redevelopment for these sites for whatever reason, wich is kind of amazing given all of the industrial/logisitics development going on all around the region (and state). It looks like they are looking for 'major' projects, but would be better off developing the land in smaller phases. Can't put all the blame on the local govs, though, as RACER Trust owns the site, and they, too, have not seemed interested in unloading this as feverntly as you'd expect. Perhaps, GM thinks they may eventually get them back to develop their battery plants on and such. Who knows?

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LansingRailFan
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Re: JAIL Marketing

Unread post by LansingRailFan »

chapmaja wrote:
Sun Jan 01, 2023 11:47 am
I am just wondering what the marketing is like for this railroad. I just realized how unique their postion can be, depending on what is allowed from their agreement for the line. Rarely does a shortline like JAIL have potential access to all three eastern Class 1's. Within a 40 mile stretch of trackage. If the old plant sites in Lansing could be redeveloped into something using Rail, JAIL could be in a great position to benefit.
ADBF is in a unique position of owning two shortlines with direct or indirect connections to three class 1s.
- JAIL connects with NS, CSX and CN.
- ADBF connects with NS directly and CN and CSX indirectly via IORY.

Having this flexibility for lanes of traffic is certainly ideal.

1TrackMind
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Re: JAIL Marketing

Unread post by 1TrackMind »

Trouble with the JAIL is sure it connects to three class ones in some larger cities, but the problem is they aren't near the industrial zones. In Jackson most industry is on the south side of the Michigan line, so NS handles that. In Lansing the industries are near CSX or CN. Becoming a haulage line doesn't make sense as the class ones already connect to each other in Detroit or Chicago. So right now they just need to keep their current customers and hope for new growth in transloading (which they've done) and hope for brand new industries to come along (which is unlikely in central Michigan right now).

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LansingRailFan
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Re: JAIL Marketing

Unread post by LansingRailFan »

MiddleMI wrote:
Mon Jan 02, 2023 7:08 am
chapmaja wrote:
Sun Jan 01, 2023 11:47 am
If the old plant sites in Lansing could be redeveloped into something using Rail, JAIL could be in a great position to benefit.
And therein lies the rub. The city and region have generally been very disinterested in the redevelopment for these sites for whatever reason, wich is kind of amazing given all of the industrial/logisitics development going on all around the region (and state). It looks like they are looking for 'major' projects, but would be better off developing the land in smaller phases. Can't put all the blame on the local govs, though, as RACER Trust owns the site, and they, too, have not seemed interested in unloading this as feverntly as you'd expect. Perhaps, GM thinks they may eventually get them back to develop their battery plants on and such. Who knows?
These plans were drawn up by NS in conjunction with the Racer Trust in mid-2014:

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LansingRailFan
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Re: JAIL Marketing

Unread post by LansingRailFan »

Photos didn’t attach on previous post:
6E76EAA0-854D-46A2-90F4-FF3F65D6AA86.jpeg
3C7D480E-CC38-4015-979F-D74FFD84D2C3.jpeg
57F5E6ED-106B-4DC8-BEC1-F36EDFF173C9.jpeg
NS/Racer Trust had these drawn up in 2014.

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GrandTrunkFan
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Re: JAIL Marketing

Unread post by GrandTrunkFan »

LansingRailFan wrote:
Thu Jan 12, 2023 11:44 am
Photos didn’t attach on previous post:

6E76EAA0-854D-46A2-90F4-FF3F65D6AA86.jpeg

3C7D480E-CC38-4015-979F-D74FFD84D2C3.jpeg

57F5E6ED-106B-4DC8-BEC1-F36EDFF173C9.jpeg

NS/Racer Trust had these drawn up in 2014.
Wow! Ive never seen those before! Too bad none of that has come to fruition.
Nick

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