New Amtrak Niantic River Draw Span is Installed
THE REPLACEMENT OF AMTRAK’S DRAWBRIDGE over Con- necticut’s Niantic River in East Lyme is moving along right on schedule. The new bascule span, which will provide an additional six feet of clear- ance over the water, was floated into place on March 26,
2012.The navi- gation channel was closed until March 30 to allow the installation of the
railroad expects the line to generate C$1.3 bil- lion in annual revenues, equivalent to 14 per cent of its 2011 income, and mining royalties will pour up to C$4 billion into the provincial treasury over ten years. However, a consortium consisting of Centu-
ry Mines, Ltd., Adriana Resources, and Cham- pion Minerals Inc. have their own plans for an- other railroad to serve the Labrador Trough. The group would build the railroad and hire a third party to operate it. New Millennium, Alderon Iron Ore, Beaufield Resources, Cap- Ex Ventures, Cliffs Natural Resources, Labrador Iron Mines, and Oceanic Iron Ore are all involved in developing resources in the trough and would benefit from a new railroad.
span and its counterweights to be completed. Amtrak says the eastbound track will be shifted to the new alignment this summer and the west- bound in the fall. The project will be finished next May after the original, 104-year old bridge is demolished. Eastbound Providence & Worcester train NR2 is shown passing the work site on March 28.
Due to increasing demand for ore, in 2010
the Bloom Lake Railway was opened between Cliffs Natural Resources’ new Bloom Lake iron mine in Quebec and a connection at Labrador City with QNSL, which moves the ore to Sept- Iles in 240-car trains. There, it’s interchanged with the Arnaud Railway which moves it to the docks at Pointe Noire, just across the bay west of Sept-Iles. As the only common carrier in the region, QNSL may not have the capacity to handle all the potential new business.
NEW AND USED POWER ON THE WAY: CN announced in March that it has ordered 65 new diesel locomotives for delivery in 2013. Some 35 ES44AC’s will come from General
CORRECTION: Our story about the Galveston, Texas, drawbridge on page 20 of the May issue misstated the location of the adjacent interstate highway bridge; it’s west of the railroad bridge.
24 JUNE 2012 •
RAILFAN.COM
Electric, while Electro-Motive Diesel will pro- vide 30 SD70ACe’s. The new power represents the big Canadian road’s first purchase of alter- nating current locomotives. CN says that while d.c. drive power performs well on the road’s generally favorable main line grades, the new a.c. power will be assigned to unit coal trains in British Columbia and Alberta, where their higher low-speed tractive effort will be put to use on the steep grades and sharp curvature of the coal branches. The new units will be joined by more used
power, which will be reconditioned by the rail- road. Eleven leased former LMX C40-8W’s cur- rently in service on the Illinois Central will be purchased, along with 42 ex-Chicago & North Western (UP) C40-8s and 43 ex-Oakway SD60s. The new and used power will be equipped with distributed power technology.
ROBERT A. LA MAY
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