The Columbus Subdivision is a freight railroad line extending from

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, an ...

, north to

Fostoria, Ohio Fostoria (, ) is a city located at the convergence of Hancock, Seneca, and Wood counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. It is approximately south of Toledo and north of Columbus. The city is known for its railroads, as a ...

. The line is currently owned by CSX Transportation. This rail line is a mostly double-tracked route that sees a relatively high amount of traffic per day. Unit coal trains are very common on the Columbus Subdivision, but a large variety of commodities travel along the line. The line is controlled via a

Centralized Traffic Control Centralized traffic control (CTC) is a form of railway signalling that originated in North America. CTC consolidates train routing decisions that were previously carried out by local signal operators or the train crews themselves. The system con ...

system that allows for a high throughput of trains.

Direct Traffic Control Direct traffic control (DTC) is a system for authorizing track occupancy used on some railroads instead of or in addition to signals. It is known as "direct" traffic control because the train dispatcher gives track authority directly to the train ...

is also used along the subdivision to separate trains, with a large number of DTC Blocks named after nearby municipalities. The Columbus Subdivision should not be confused with CSX's

Columbus Line Subdivision The Columbus Line Subdivision is a railroad line owned by CSX Transportation in the U.S. state of Ohio. The line runs from Galion, Ohio, Galion south to Columbus, Ohio, Columbus along a former New York Central Railroad line. At its north end, th ...

, which stretches from

, to

Galion, Ohio Galion is a city in Crawford County, Ohio, Crawford, Morrow County, Ohio, Morrow, and Richland County, Ohio, Richland counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 10,453 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Galion is the second ...

, and is located several miles east of the Columbus Subdivision.

History

The right-of-way that it known today as the Columbus Subdivision began construction in August 1875, once the newly founded Columbus & Toledo Railroad company raised enough funds to construct a rail line from

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

north to Toledo through the villages of Linworth, Powell,

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacen ...

, Prospect, Morral, and Fostoria. The primary purpose of the line was to forward coal from the Appalachian region to markets beyond Columbus. Nonetheless, the line also carried passenger traffic and reported 25M passenger-miles and 2.6B freight ton-miles per year. The Columbus & Toledo was later consolidated into the

Hocking Valley Railway The Hocking Valley Railway was a railroad in the U.S. state of Ohio, with a main line from Toledo to Athens and Pomeroy via Columbus. It also had several branches to the coal mines of the Hocking Valley near Athens. The company became part of t ...

, along with another connected route extending south of Columbus.''The Hocking Valley Railway'' by Edward H. Miller After the Hocking Valley system was acquired by the

Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway was a Class I railroad formed in 1869 in Virginia from several smaller Virginia railroads begun in the 19th century. Led by industrialist Collis P. Huntington, it reached from Virginia's capital city of Richmond ...

, the line was under C&O ownership. During the 1950s, the track was modernized to include CTC signals and remote dispatch capability. Facilities for

Diesel Locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whe ...

s were instituted while aging steam equipment was removed and scrapped. Passenger traffic also began to dwindle as personal automobiles and

Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

s proliferated, forcing the railroad to focus more on freight movements and remove most small, local depots from service. In 1980, the C&O's holding company, the

Chessie System Chessie System, Inc. was a holding company that owned the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O), the Western Maryland Railway (WM), and Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal Railroad (B&OCT). Trains operated u ...

, and several other railroads merged into the

CSX Corporation CSX Corporation is an American holding company focused on rail transportation and real estate in North America, among other industries. The company was established in 1980 as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merger ...

. In the mid-1980s, CSX established

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

, which brought all owned lines into a single railroad with the modern-day CSX livery. In 2006, CSX split the Columbus Subdivision at

. The southern, Columbus–Fostoria portion kept its name, while the northern track towards Toledo was renamed the

Pemberville Subdivision Pemberville is a village located on the banks of the Portage River in Wood County, Ohio, United States. The population was 1,371 at the 2010 census. History Pemberville was platted in 1854, and named for James Pember, a first settler. An early v ...

and placed into CSX's Great Lakes operating division. Additionally, the track within the high-volume city of Fostoria was renamed the

Fostoria Subdivision Fostoria Subdivision is a portion of the former Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Toledo to Columbus line. Today it is owned by CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in t ...

References

{{Reflist CSX Transportation lines Rail infrastructure in Ohio Transportation in Columbus, Ohio Fostoria, Ohio