WOONSOCKET – Rail lines running through Woonsocket that for more than a century have been operated by Massachusetts-based Providence & Worcester Railroad Co. will soon have a new owner, and thanks to a federal approval obtained this week should also soon have a new purpose: carrying commuters between Worcester and Providence.
Genesee & Wyoming has announced the purchase of P&W for $126 million as a means for the Connecticut-based freight hauler to expand its lines through the northeast. While the acquisition must still pass two levels of federal regulatory review, from the Security Exchange Commission and the railway governing Surface Transportation Board, the sale is on course to end a long-standing arrangement for area tracks.
P&W employs 140 people, and operates 32 locomotives in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York across 163 miles of owned track, with another 350 miles working under track-access agreements. The company has operated lines through Woonsocket since the mid-1800s, and currently runs a freight line through the city, which is utilized each winter for festive trips to the “North Pole” by the Blackstone Valley Polar Express.
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. owns or leases 121 freight railroads worldwide that are organized into 10 operating regions with approximately 7,200 employees and more than 2,800 customers.
Robert Billington, president and CEO of the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, which runs the Polar Express, said his organization has not yet spoken to the purchaser.
“We don’t know exactly what’s going to go on. We hope there won’t be many changes in the operation of the railroad,” Billington said, noting that BVTC’s rental of P & W’s equipment and lines is a positive on the company’s balance sheet. “I’m sure they looked at our track record. The trajectory is always to increase operations. I think it stands to reason that its good for the railroad.”
Boston Surface Rail Company President Vincent Bono said that while he also hasn’t had discussions with the new owners yet, he’s hopeful the acquisition will ultimately be good news for his project to develop commuter service between Providence and Worcester.
“We overall think it’s a positive action, since G&W is both a pretty progressive outfit, and has experience with passenger service on their lines,” Bono said.
P&W also owns about 45 acres of undeveloped waterfront land in East Providence, which Genesee has said it expects to sell.
The news of the purchase precedes the announcement this week that BSRC’s proposal for commuter service has received its own approval from the USSTB, an important regulatory win for the plan.
“The Board finds that it has jurisdiction over a company seeking to provide passenger rail service on an existing route between Worcester, Mass., and Providence, R.I., but exempts that company from most of the Board’s regulations,” states the decision, issued Thursday, Sept. 15.
Bono hopes to launch commuter service along a 44-mile route between Worcester and Providence with a stop at company headquarters in Woonsocket by the end of 2017 or mid-2018.
“We are really focused on Rhode Island, especially Woonsocket, since the Baldelli-Hunt administration has spearheaded our political support,” Bono said of the city mayor.
The investor filed the application to the board in April, and was encouraged by the latest news that the project, which has been in talks for the past two years, can move forward.
“This is a huge hurdle for us,” he told The Breeze.
The decision states that “regulation is not needed to protect rail passengers from an abuse of market power,” exempting the company from the review typically required for rail expansion, as long as it is done on P & W lines.
“BSRC states that potential customers would have many other transportation options available to them (i.e., air, bus, or personal vehicle), and no party has raised comments opposing this argument,” it states.
Testifying in favor of the approval were U.S. Rep. James McGovern; state Sen. Marc Cote; Massachusetts Sen. Harriette Chandler; Massachusetts Rep. James O’Day; Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt; the city of Worcester, Mass.; the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council; and the National Association of Railroad Passengers.
Comments were also submitted by Blackstone Heritage Corridor Inc., “which supports certain aspects of BSRC’s plan,” according to the STB decision.
BSRC projects four trains per day, with two morning trips from Worcester to Providence and two return trips from Providence to Worcester in the evening. All trains would make one intermediate stop in Woonsocket.
Bono said he plans to host a small event inside the train station at One Depot Square in the first week in October to outline his plans more fully.
A similar process is anticipated for acquisition of the P & W lines as the sale works through regulatory hurdles, including an opportunity for public comment.
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