ATTACHMENT A DESCRIPTION OF ERIE LACKAWANNA RAILWAY COMPANY, ITS BUSINESS AND SERVICE

Transcription

1 ATTACHMENT A DESCRIPTION OF ERIE LACKAWANNA RAILWAY COMPANY, ITS BUSINESS AND SERVICE Erie Lackawanna Railway Company has been - and continues to be - an integral part of the transportation system serving the highly industrialized northeastern United States. Erie Lackawanna operates over 2,800 miles of road in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Its main line runs between Chicago and New York City, serving Marion, Akron and Youngstown, Ohio; Jamestown, Buffalo, Corning, Elmira and Binghamton, N. Y.; Scranton, Pa.; and Paterson, Newark and Jersey City, N. J. Erie Lackawanna has important branch lines connecting such cities as Cincinnati, Dayton and Cleveland, Ohio, to its main line operations. Branch lines in New York connect Rochester, Syracuse, Utica and Niagara Falls to the main line. In addition to serving as a direct link for many of the major metropolitan areas in the states served, Erie Lackawanna connects with other railroads which allows its customers to ship to or receive from almost any point in the United States. These important gateways include Chicago with its multiread connections with most western and southwestern railroads, Cincinnati with its important connections with railroads serving the South, Buffalo with its many connection with other eastern railroads as well as Canadian

2 rails, and several important eastern interchanges providing connections to New England and other eastern destinations. During the year 1974 Erie Lackawanna handled over 746,000 carloads of freight on its lines and almost 182,000 trailer loads of freight. The trailers of freight are handled on rail cars, usually two per car. For freight service, Erie Lackawanna received gross revenues of approximately $282 million last year. In addition, Erie Lackawanna has an extensive commuter train operation in Northern New Jersey and adjacent New York State, handling approximately 40,000 commuters per day. Last year for this service the railroad received over $14 million in revenues and over $13 million under contract with the states involved to bring the operation to a non-profit, break-even level. Erie Lackawanna required the services of approximately 11,000 employees to produce its total 1974 revenues of $323 million, including the freight and passenger revenues noted above. Freight cars in Erie Lackawanna ownership totaled almost 20,000 at the end of 1974 and it also owned or leased over 3,400 freight carrying trailers. In addition there were over 500 locomotives owned by the railroad at the end of Erie Lackawanna 1 s major customer list - those companies which depend on the railroad for a large portion of their total distribution needs - reads like a who's who

3 in United States industry. Republic Steel, United Parcel Service, General Motors, Youngstown Sheet & Tube, Allied Chemical, U. S. Steel and Ford Motor as a group provided almost 28% of Erie Lackawanna's freight business. Other major companies which depend on Erie Lackawanna for rail transportation include Metropolitan Edison of Pennsylvania, Chrysler Corp., International Paper, National Steel, Bethlehem Steel, General Electric, General Foods, Owens- Illinois, General Mills. The list of 20,000 Erie Lackawanna customers covers the entire geographic, production and service spectrum of the U. S. economy. These 20,000 customers ship from or receive at 140,000 locations. The types of goods carried by Erie Lackawanna are likewise extensive. In 1974 the railroad carried over 50,000 carloads of each of the following commodities: paper and paper products, iron and steel products, automobiles and automobile parts, coal, iron ore and chemicals. This traffic constituted 40% of the total handled in Much of the traffic moves in rather heavy volume between relatively few points. For example, iron ore mostly moves between the U. S. ports on Lake Erie to the Youngstown and Warren, Ohio, areas as well as Sharon and (via connecting railroads) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Lumber, flour, machinery and beverages added another 10% to the volume of traffic moved over Erie Lackawanna tracks. The other 50% of the traffic was made up of a broad array of commodities from food products to sand and

4 gravel, from ordnance shipments to glass products. Additionally, the railroad handled over 158,000 trailer loads of general merchandise where no commodity identification is available. Erie Lackawanna's large handling of highway trailers on rail cars makes it a major carrier of this type of freight. With almost 20% of its freight business in trailers, the railroad has developed two large efficient terminals which handle about 80% of its trailers onto and off rail cars. One is located at Chicago and the other in northern New Jersey where not only local New Jersey industry can be served but also customers located at points in New York City, lower Connecticut and Long Island. The volume of this traffic alone indicates shippers 1 dependence on this type of extremely competitive service. Over 750,000 cars and trailers, or more than 80% of the total, handled by Erie Lackawanna either originate and/or terminate from customers located on its own lines. Many of these customers do not have alternate rail service available to them. Some of the larger customers served exclusively by Erie Lackawanna (so far as rail service is concerned) include a General Motors stamping plant at Mansfield, Ohio, a Ford Motor automobile assembly plant at Mahwah, N. J., the Metropolitan Edison generating plant at Portland, Pa., a National Biscuit bakery at Fairlawn, N. J., an FMC chemical

5 plant at Meadville, Pa., and a Packard Electric auto parts plant at Warren, Ohio. Erie Lackawanna provides the exclusive rail service for 50 firms which move over 500 carloads of freight per year The need for the essential rail service provided by Erie Lackawanna was evidenced in the hearing held in 1974 pursuant to the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973 before the United States District Court at Cleveland overseeing Erie Lackawanna f s reorganization proceedings in which a total of 156 shippers offered exhibits demonstrating the importance of Erie Lackawanna 1 s service to them. The preservation of rail service is also required by industries locating or planning to locate new facilities on Erie Lackawanna*s lines. Most notable among these is the new Schlitz plant near Syra cuse, N. Y., which will be one of the largest breweries in the United States upon its completion in While Erie Lackawanna is greatly dependent on the economy of the northeastern United States, the economy of the northeastern United States is also greatly dependent on Erie Lackawanna. As indicated above, industry in that region relies on Erie Lackawanna to provide an important part of its transportation needs, and many companies have no alter native rail transportation available to them. The economy of the area served by Erie Lackawanna benefits from the existence and preservation of present industry shipping t patterns and also because rail service attracts new industry

6 6 to the area. Moreover, the expenditure last year by Erie Lackawanna of $157 million in wages and salaries and $50 million for the purchase of materials and supplies indicates what a significant contributor the railroad is to the economy of the area in which it operates. By reason of the substantial volume of traffic it handles in conjunction with other railroads to and from points throughout the United States, Erie Lackawanna 1 s service is an important factor in the national economy.