A few nuggets from CSX's filing:
* Amtrak’s pre-2005 Sunset Limited service over the Gulf Coast Corridor operated three times a week in the middle of the night, when local freight traffic service is significantly reduced and bridge openings are far less frequent. Amtrak now proposes to operate four trains per day, and during primetime hours — when freight demand and disruption from bridge operations are at their respective peaks. Those proposed operations consume far more capacity than the pre-2005 service did.
* CSX and NS are proposing roughly 23 miles of sidings and double track on the 137 mile CSX single track main to allow limited bi-directional flow and the ability to overtake slower freights
* some of the bridges are staffed by bridge operators who require shift changes by hi-rail vehicles, which consumes capacity on the Gulf Coast Corridor especially for the more remote bridges
* Under normal operating conditions, there are typically between 15 and 20 individual train movements per day over the (New Orleans) Back Belt that touch two or more of
the dispatchers in question. For approximately one hour, twice per day, the Back Belt is essentially cleared of all freight traffic to ensure on-time operation of the existing Crescent Amtrak service to and from the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal. This effectively forces the freight movements over the route into a shortened, 22-hour operating day. The introduction of four additional passenger trains contemplated for the proposed Gulf Coast passenger service, and the associated operating windows required to facilitate that service, would further force existing and future freight service into a more confined roughly 18-hour operating day.
* There is significant local traffic that requires significant switching utilizing the main track.
* Without any capacity projects, the RTC model cannot find a dispatching solution without permitting a freight train to be stopped blocking public crossings for more than 20 minutes.
Code: Select allTable 8: Modeled Movable Bridges and Operations along Gulf Coast
Bridge MP Open Avg mins per opening
CSXT Tensaw 651.5 1/w 10
CSXT Mobile 653.5 6 28
CSXT Bayou Sara 658.3 2/w 10
CSXT Chickasaw 663.2 1 14
CSXT Three Mi Crk 664.1 3 10
CSXT Pascagoula 706.8 1 10
CSXT Biloxi 724.3 7 12
CSXT Bay St Louis 752.5 2 15
CSXT Pearl River 768.9 1 5
CSXT Rigolets 775.4 3 15
CSXT Chef Menteur 787.2 5 10
Industrial Canal 801.4 9 5
NSR Seabrook 190.6 6 6
==============================================
Owner/operator of
TrainSim.com (the internet's largest train simulation community)