Editing CSX Transportation (section)

=== Other acquisitions ===
Virginia shortline [[Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad]] (RF&P) was acquired by CSX in February 1990. The RF&P had historically been jointly owned by a number of connecting railroads through a holding company and operated as a [[bridge line]]. All of these owners except the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Southern Railway eventually became part of CSX, and the PRR stake was given up during the bankruptcy of Penn Central. This purchase added a new connection between [[Alexandria, Virginia|Alexandria]] and [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], linking former B&O lines with those of C&O and Seaboard. However, the State of Virginia, which held partial ownership of the RF&P, was displeased with the merger agreement created by CSX. In particular the status of [[Potomac Yard]], then a major [[classification yard]] in the RF&P system, was a matter of disagreement. The yard had potential for redevelopment, and as part of negotiations with the state, CSX ultimately agreed to decommission the rail yard by the time a deal was reached in October 1991 whereby CSX and the State of Virginia each purchased part of the RF&P.{{Sfn|Solomon|2005|pp=70-71}}

From the 1930s, the B&O had used part of the [[Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad]] (P&LE) main line from [[McKeesport, Pennsylvania]], to [[West Pittsburg, Pennsylvania|West Pittsburg]] via a [[trackage rights]] agreement. The P&LE remained healthy enough to escape inclusion in Conrail, but a severe downturn in the steel industry in the 1980s crippled the railroad. As local traffic dried up, conditions reached the point that the B&O was running as many as 20 trains per day on the P&LE main line versus just one run by the line's owner. When P&LE employees went on strike to protest a change in ownership of the railroad, the company cut maintenance and reduced its main line to one track to cut costs. This adversely affected CSX usage of the line and sparked an interest in purchasing it outright.{{Sfn|Solomon|2005|pp=71, 73}}

An initial attempt to buy out the P&LE in partnership with an [[employee buyout]] by P&LE employees in 1988 failed when negotiations between CSX and the other railroad's unions could not come to an agreement. CSX instead purchased the P&LE main line outright in 1991, leasing it back to the P&LE. The next year, CSX formed the [[Three Rivers Railway]] as a subsidiary and purchased several key P&LE lines through it. CSX did not want the entire railroad, so some lines and company assets were instead retained by the P&LE's parent company, which ultimately sold them off.{{Sfn|Solomon|2005|pp=73-74}}