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crease transit time across the border. KCS is expecting automotive business alone to grow by about 35 percent by 2018, requiring ca- pacity improvements to handle the increased business across all sectors.
NORFOLK SOUTHERN SCOTT LINDSEY
Bellevue Yard Progress Update
Yard operations in Bellevue, Ohio, began ex- panded service on November 17, 2014. The yard is expected to be fully operational in the first quarter of 2015. This $160 million ex- pansion has doubled the yard’s size to accom- modate more traffic, and included about 38.5 miles of additional track. Once completed, it will be the largest hump classification yard on the NS network and one of the largest such terminals in North America. The impact of the Bellevue expansion on
other terminals has been the subject of much speculation by both NS labor and the rail- fan community alike. The most recent data shared publicly by NS indicates that when the new Bellevue operating plan is completed in early 2015, the number of trains originat- ing there will increase by an average of 13 trains per day and the number terminating will increase by 12 per day. This is roughly an increase of 75 percent compared to pre-expan- sion schedules. Terminal volume will increase by 1300 cars per day on average, an increase of more than 80 percent. As for other terminals, Elkhart is fore-
casted to see a reduction of eight originating trains and five terminating trains per day, a drop of 36 percent and 26 percent, respec- tively. Volume processed through that termi- nal will fall by about 600 cars per day, or 30 percent. Conway will lose an estimated seven outbound and nine inbound trains per day, which is a little more than half of its tradi- tional levels. The number of cars processed will drop by around 40 percent, which is close to 600 cars per day. Finally, Watkins Yard in Columbus, Ohio, will lose two outbound and
East Penn Power
East Penn Railroad, which operates 114 miles of track in southeastern Pennsylva- nia and Delaware, has been upgrading its fl eet and shuffl ing power among its prop- erties. Several years ago, it acquired New York, Susquehanna & Western’s three EMD GP18s, numbered 1800, 1802, and 1804. The 1962-built locomotives had been as- signed to the old Wilmington & Northern based in Kennett Square, Pa. Over the past few months, the GP18s have shed their old Susquehanna “yellowjacket” paint for the blue and yellow corporate colors of East Penn. No. 1804 is now assigned to the Perki- omen Branch between Pennsburg and Em- maus Junction, a former Reading line.
PHOTO BY MICHAEL BURKHART
one inbound trains daily. Look for Elkhart to focus more on local Chicago blocks and Con- way to focus on energy-related traffic in the region. NS also recently added tracks at Con- way for staging and consolidating oil traffic destined for East Coast refineries.
Cleveland Route Changes
To reduce delays and congestion on the for- mer Conrail mainline from Pittsburgh into Chicago, NS is making changes to how it routes train movements through the Cleve- land terminal. After the 1999 Conrail ac- quisition, NS was able to shift most of the Buffalo, N.Y.-Bellevue, Ohio, traffic from its former Nickel Plate main through the west- ern Cleveland suburbs to the Conrail main- line via Berea, Ohio. This was supported by use of the Cloggsville connection on the east end and the Vermillion, Ohio, connection on the west end. This route change also allowed Buffalo trains to work at Rockport Yard, on Cleveland’s west side. To help relieve congestion on the Chicago
line through Berea, NS has started returning Buffalo traffic to the Nickel Plate between Vermillion and Cloggsville. As of January 2015, NS had added four daily manifest trains to the route. These are westbounds 145 (Buffalo-Kansas City, Mo.), 15K (Conway, Pa.-Bellevue) and 309 (Elmira, N.Y.-Elkhart, Ind.), and eastbound 310 (Bellevue-Elmira). Until these recent changes, the only sched- uled train using this route was eastbound automotive Train 14T (Oakwood Yard/De- troit-Buffalo), which handles multilevels destined for the NS terminals at Buffalo and Mechanicville, N.Y.; Ayer, Mass.; and the Ca- nadian National’s ramp at Toronto. It also continues to handle coal trains destined for Cleveland (Trains 554 loaded and 555 empty) and Buffalo. With the increase in traffic, NS is now
staffing its “RU” drawbridge in Lorain, Ohio, around the clock. For the past decade or so, there was not a regular bridge operator from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., as NS strived to not
operate trains through the local communities during these hours. If a train was needed in this time frame, an extra operator was called. This modest increase in train traffic has
not gone unnoticed in the communities along Lake Erie, especially in Lakewood. City of- ficials recently contacted the Ohio Rail De- velopment Commission to register the city’s concern with the additional trains and poten- tial future increases as NS expands its oper- ations at the Bellevue hump yard. The city is seeking the establishment of quiet zones to squelch locomotive horns, but notes that the price tag of the necessary grade crossing en- hancements will be difficult to fund.
CF&E Routing
Norfolk Southern is moving forward with using the Chicago, Fort Wayne & Eastern’s trackage west of Bucyrus, Ohio, as a way to help reduce congestion on its parallel Lake and Dearborn division mainlines into the Chicago gateway. This segment of the former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline is owned by CSX Transportation, leased/operated by the CF&E, and dispatched by NS. Tie and sur- facing work was under way during December 2014 on the portion between Bucyrus and Fort Wayne. This segment also has a series of 10 m.p.h. slow orders that are being addressed. Reportedly, NS has a goal of increasing the maximum authorized speed over the entire route to at least 40 m.p.h. Also, NS was qual- ifying train crews on the Fort Wayne-Gib- son Yard, Hammond, Ind., segment using light-engine movements. These runs were typically designated as Trains 10X or 12X. During December 2014, NS began operat-
ing a limited number of through trains over the route, including Train 13J, which han- dles multilevel automotive blocks from Fort Wayne to Gibson, Ind., and NS’s Chicago mixing center. After an initial appearance on December 6, it has usually been running its traditional route via the Lake Division’s former Nickel Plate main through Claypool, Ind. By late December, NS had established a schedule via the CF&E for Train 19A, the
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