by braves
What's your opinion on the West Shore rail line, will the Northern Branch light rail replace the West Shore rail line for good.
Well, anybody who has read this forum previously knows my position.
It will not happen at least for a long, long time. The West Shore is a
main CSX owned freight line that is strained for capacity. The CSX always
has the option of putting down a second track in the single track portions
to expand capacity and if they allow the second track to be put down by
the state(s), they lose that option.
This line is also a 24/7 operation and they lose that with any sort of
passenger service even if it was only three or four round trips a day.
This line is burdened with a number of problems that in my opinion, would
make passenger service difficult, some of them are: areas of crime and
vandalism, hostile towns (most of them in New Jersey are very hostile to
the railroad and its employees, believe me, I have experienced it), very
heavy freight traffic, a freight railroad that wants NO part of passenger
trains on this line and last but not least lots of NIMBY's.
On the railroad we learned not to use the word "never" but it is as close to
that as it can be.
Noel Weaver