MANY parts of Pan Am's rail network require slow speeds, prompt shippers to use trucks instead of rail, reports IHS Media.
As a result, CSX Transportation is targeting US$100 million in improvements to an aging New England short-line railway it wants to acquire.
The improvements would give shippers faster intermodal access to the ports of New York and Saint John in New Brunswick, Canada.
"Customers will benefit from seamless, single-line service into and out of New England," said CSX chief executive James Foote.
"We want to bring Pan Am and its customers into a new era, which will start with bringing them into our Class I rail network."
The Pan Am acquisition would add 800 miles of track to CSX's current 20,000-mile network.
Pan Am's network runs through Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Portions of the Pan Am network are "so overgrown with trees and weeds you don't even know there's a railroad down there," said Mr Foote.
"One of the biggest reasons we have delays is because there is a mechanical breakdown or engineering defect in the rail that causes trains to slow down."
CSX vice president of operations Jamie Boychuk declared 200 miles of Pan Am track require trains to slow down.
In comparison, 20 miles of CSX track require trains to slow down.
Mr Boychuk declared CSX is targeting US$50 million in projects on the Pan Am rail network in the first year after the acquisition is completed.
"New England deserves better, and we are going to upgrade Pan Am to a Class I network," said Mr Boychuk.
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