www.railfan.com/railnews
Catskill Mountain Railroad
RAILROAD COUNTERS TRAIL PLAN: In response to an Ulster County proposal to tear up 31 miles of dormant former Ulster & Delaware trackage and convert the right of way into a recreational trail (see January RAILNEWS), the Catskill Mountain Railroad has offered its own plan, which would improve rail service and also accommodate trail users. CMRR holds a 25-year lease on the route between Kingston and Highmount, N.Y., which runs through 2016, and the railroad says the county’s plan would violate the terms of the lease.
MBTA
TEN-YEAR RAIL PLAN IS RELEASED: As part of its 21st Century Transportation Plan, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation has outlined its rail projects for the next decade, which will benefit Am- trak as well as the MBTA and other passen- ger operators. The $1.8 billion South Coast Rail project will extend the T’s commuter service from Middleboro to New Bedford and Fall River. The Inland Route along the CSX former Boston & Albany main line will be double tracked between Boston and Spring- field for $362.4 million, which will include new passenger equipment, stations, and im- proved traffic control systems. $113.8 million will improve track, signals, and structures on the Housatonic Railroad between Pittsfield and the Connecticut state line to support pas- senger service to New York City. The line be- tween Middleboro and Cape Cod will receive $20.8 million in upgrades for seasonal pas- senger service from Boston, which will begin this summer. Other projects include an $850 million expansion of South Station to accom- modate more Inland Route and South Coast Rail trains.
On the transit side, the plan funds the $1.5
billion replacement of 43-year-old Red Line cars and 31-year-old Orange Line cars, as well as improvements to track and signal systems,
Curse of Tutankhamun Strikes as Empire Builder Hits Errant Elk
WHILE LEADING THE WESTBOUND EMPIRE BUILDER, Amtrak F59PH No. 470 struck an elk near Elmira, Idaho, on January 17, 2013. Justin Franz shot the train at Whitefish, Mont., that night (above), shortly before its encounter with the trespassing ruminant. The locomotive suffered moderate front-end damage but was able to continue on to Spokane, Wash., where it was removed from the train. Normally assigned to Talgos on the Eugene-Portland-Seattle-Van- couver Cascades Service, No. 470 wears a King Tut-themed wrap to promote the King Tu- tankhamun exhibit, which ran through January 6 at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle.
plus $200 million to overhaul 20-year old Red Line cars and $732 million is earmarked for new Green Line cars.
NJ Transit
OPERATIONS RETURN TO NORMAL: On January 14, 2013, NJ Transit declared that operations had returned to pre-Hurricane Sandy levels. Electric operations into Hobo- ken remained suspended as repairs continued at the Mason Substation, which is expected to be brought back on line in March. As a result, Gladstone Branch trains are still running be- hind dual-mode ALP45DP locomotives.
MULLS FLOOD CONTINGENCY PLAN: NJ Transit is working with Conrail Shared Assets on a plan which would allow the agency to temporarily store about 300 pieces of rolling stock at Conrail’s dormant Linden, N.J., yard in the event of another storm like Hurricane Sandy. Located adjacent to the Northeast Corridor, the site is out of the reach of floodwaters and storm surges, which ren- dered dozens of locomotives and hundreds of cars unserviceable after Sandy inundated NJT’s Hoboken Yard and Meadows Mainte- nance Facility. Linden Yard served a General Motors assembly plant which closed in 2005.
Texas-New Mexico
UNIT OIL TRAINS START RUNNING: Iowa Pacific’s Texas-New Mexico Railroad moved its first solid trainload of crude oil from the new Genesis Energy loading facility near Wink, Texas, to a Genesis refinery on the Texas Gulf Coast near Houston on January 22, 2013. TNMR interchanges with Union Pa- cific at Monahans, Texas.
Tri-Rail Turning Over a New LEAF
RAILSERVE 1681 IS A “LEAF” LOW-EMISSIONS SWITCHER, designed specifically for in- dustrial switching and to produce its maximum tractive effort under 10 m.p.h. This one was con- verted from Union Pacific GP50 No. 1681 (née-MP 3523) with a fuel-sipping 600 h.p. Cummins QSX15-L3 genset. In November 2012 the firm introduced the more powerful 1200-h.p. Dual LEAF twin-genset model. Since 2008, Railserve has built 32 LEAF units at its shop in Longview, Texas, on platforms including EMD switchers, GP7s, and GP30s. No. 1681 works the Archer-Daniels-Mid- land plant at Decatur, Ill., along with RSSX 5810 and 8345, both built from older Geeps.
TO TAKE OVER CSX ROUTE: The South Florida Regional Transportation Authority's (SFRTA) board has approved an agreement which will transfer responsibility for dis- patching and maintenance of the South Flori- da Rail Corridor from CSX Transportation to the state on June 30, 2014. The deal involves the former Seaboard Air Line main line from Mangonia Park south to the Hialeah Mar- ket/Miami Airport station used by the Tri- Rail commuter service. SFRTA will control the movement of CSX freight and Amtrak passenger trains while giving priority han- dling to Tri-Rail traffic.
27
MARK MAUTNER
JUSTIN FRANZ
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60