CSX would allow double-stack trains through Mid-Atlantic
(The following story by Jean Tarbett Hardiman appeared on The Herald-Dispatch website on November 14, 2009.)
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. As Prichard and southwestern West Virginia get ready Norfolk Southern Corp.'s double-stacked trains to move through, the eastern part of the state is looking forward to a project by CSX.
The rail company also is planning to embark on a project to raise tunnels to accommodate double-stack trains through the Mid-Atlantic region.
The $842 million National Gateway project would affect Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, and is intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from trucks on the highway, as well as saving $3.5 billion in shipper and logistics costs, significantly increase freight capacity, reduce transit times between West Coast ports and major population and triple the market access potential for some ports on the East Coast.
There's a prediction that freight transportation is going to increase by 70 percent over the next 20 years, said CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan. Moving it to rail rather than trucks will reduce greenhouse emissions, he said.
"What (using double-stacked trains) does is really open access to more markets and service, so shippers in West Virginia have easier access to markets they have now," Sullivan said. "It also will ease the flow of goods into West Virginia as well."
The path of the double stacked trains would stretch from Wilmington, N.C., up the East Coast and northeastward through the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
Along the National Gateway, the nearest intermodal distribution facility to West Virginia will be in Pittsburgh.
CSX is committing $395 million to the National Gateway project, and it's asking for $258 million in federal stimulus grants through the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grants Program. State's are being asked for $250 million.
About $60 million will be spent in West Virginia, to clear six tunnels in the state. But West Virginia is being asked to contribute $5 million to the project, Sullivan said.
There's a prediction that freight transportation is going to increase by 70 percent over the next 20 years, said CSX spokesman Bob Sullivan. Moving it to rail rather than trucks will reduce greenhouse emissions, he said.
Yesterday (Nov. 16), Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and CSX Corp. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Ward marked the construction of a double-stack corridor designed to expand Philadelphia's freight transportation options and position the region for growth, Progressive Railroading reported.
The project calls for clearing 16 overhead bridges to foster a faster and more-efficient intermodal connection with the Midwest. The corridor will be funded by $10 million from two federal sources, $10 million from the commonwealth and more than $12 million from CSX.
(The preceding report appeared on the Web site www.progressiverailroading.com on November 17, 2009.)
(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared on The Journal of Commerce website on November 17, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. Pennsylvanias governor joined with Philadelphias mayor and the chairman, president and CEO of eastern-U.S. rail giant CSX Transportation to show how changing the clearances of 16 bridges can expand the citys role as an intermodal hub.
The construction is aimed at clearing away bottlenecks so the carrier can run doublestack container trains in and out of Philadelphia, thereby giving it a more efficient rail connection with the Midwest, CSX said.
Gov. Ed Rendell, Mayor Michael Nutter and CSXs Michael Ward went to one of the bridge construction sites and touted a $32 million project they said will create hundreds of jobs and aid future economic growth for the region.
CSX said it is spending over $12 million on the work, while the state kicks in $10 million and two federal agencies combine for the other $10 million.
Rendell said "this environmentally friendly, cost-effective double-stack improvement project . . . will provide long-term economic benefits for Pennsylvania and the nation."
CSX is trying to boost its intermodal business by improving existing rail corridors, which include old structures such as bridges that were built before intermodal trains became a major force in the economy. Numerous bridges and tunnels in the eastern United States were designed for trains of a traditional height, and many cannot accommodate two-high container trains without modification.
CSX is developing a multi-state National Gateway corridor that would run stack trains to take many more box shipments away from trucks and off highways. It runs north-south for much of the mid-Atlantic zone and east-west to link up with Ohios commercial routes.
Rival Norfolk Southern is also building corridors, like CSX with considerable public funding. Those include the Heartland Corridor to tie Virginia ports to Midwest destinations, due for 2010 completion, and a more recent Crescent Corridor plan linking the Mississippi Delta with major Northeast consumer centers.
It's got to be cheaper to lower the tracks, but if the bridge is old and falling apart, it would better to rebuild the bridge. I'm guessing the latter.
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If you are in a horror movie, you make bad decisions, its what you do.
It all has ta do with Engineering Bub. Maybe lowering the tracks is impossible due to geology. Maybe there is something else right under the Railroad( a subway line perhaps). Maybe the bridge piers are so close that lowering the tracks would undermine the bridge piers. On the Magnolia cutoff a trestle leads right up to both ends of Graham tunnel. Magnolia bridge, Graham Tunnel, Kesslers Bridge. To lower the tunnel floor would mean you'd have to lower the tunnel end of each bridge. Lowering bridges is a fairly hairy thing, the course of fact being they were designed and built to a certain height for a reason. Same way with tunnels. Tunnels thru the appalation mountain area are built thru areas of uncertain geology. Due to the make up of the mountain itself, how it was formed, and the erosion since then, varies wildly where the decision to tunnel was made a hundred or more years ago. Instead of a solid piece of granite to bore thru that would never move and stay structurally sound, even if ya had to enlarge it several times is a fairy tale. Everything moves and has cracks or faults. Tunnels were built thru areas of hard rock, shale, coal, sand stone, limestone, and thru the borders of said elements. Some areas that started out as tunnels, would up as cuts, because they couldn't keep the top from falling down. Some cuts were changed to tunnels after it was found the sides of the cut would not stay in place and kept falling down on the ROW. Ya gotta rob Peter to pay Paul so to speak. Railroads are gonna claim Right of Eminent Domain, then if 2 railroads are involved it will be who was there first, then throw in the tree huggers, Lawyers, and Congressmen, whata helluva mess for 2-3 more inches of clearance over an autorack.
