I'm hoping that somebody in the biz or who follows the RR trade publications might know: was there some sort of business dust-up between BNSF and NS recently? Did BNSF steal a big NS customer or something?
I've been drawn into a civic project to fund relocation of a couple miles of NS mainline, in lieu of building yet another overpass. The project calls for modifying the current joint operating arrangement where NS trains operate over about a mile of BNSF secondary main, extending the joint running roughly another mile or mile-and-a-half.
I was told that in the meeting before last, NS managers seemed to be on board with the plan. The last meeting, however, was attended by about 6 or 7 NS brass, forcefully making the point they weren't going to sign-off on any plan which extended the joint running, "We aren't going to agree to anything which adds so much as a foot of running on somebody else's railroad!"
The odd thing is that the proposed change is to NS's benefit, seriously reducing wait times for the junction and the resulting queues which I know gum their operations. Not to mention elimination of 6 grade crossings, two on US-numbered highways. So what caused the NS change of heart? It seemed serious.