Southern Tier - East of Binghamton

Its more the fact that almost the whole line Sparrow to Binghamton is restricted to 25mph.

"Lot's of guess work going on out there. There is nothing going on the tier between Susquehanna and Mill-rift. Nothing
As i have said before NS wants nothing to do with tier East of BD. Dark Territory will be next.As i have been told you do not need signals for 6 trains a week"

FRA notwithstanding, that is true. But they tried that 5-6 years ago now and got shot down, in fact the signal system has been UPGRADED since then. So unless something changes, I don't see teh signals going away. And certainly not if there is an increase in traffic.

As for Marcellus traffic, we'll see- NYS is a much different (smarter) animal than PA, so even if it starts it won't be teh ramapnt wonton free-for-all that it's been in PA- the volumes, density, and locations will all be much more limited (thank goodness).

So whats the plan for NS as of 7/2011? If it needs to be 40mph...and its 25mph..work will be done...any plans? no crews in place and 14 more to be hired..will they be for east end? I would think IF something is up, which it sounds like it is..we would see something happening..even minor things. Last year in the late summer there was a small blitz of work..this year nothing. I am confused..we shall wait and see! I really wish I could fastforward to the opening of the mechanicsville yard. That will change patterns for sure into Binghamton...2012 looks to be the year for the tier!

northjerseybuff wrote:So whats the plan for NS as of 7/2011? If it needs to be 40mph...and its 25mph..work will be done...any plans? no crews in place and 14 more to be hired..will they be for east end? I would think IF something is up, which it sounds like it is..we would see something happening..even minor things. Last year in the late summer there was a small blitz of work..this year nothing. I am confused..we shall wait and see! I really wish I could fastforward to the opening of the mechanicsville yard. That will change patterns for sure into Binghamton...2012 looks to be the year for the tier!

nice rhyme. the tier is looking great for mid-late 2012. im thinking late summer.

Trying to pick a specific time is probably not what is important. I'm sure NS doesn't even know specific dates. They were originally thinking late last year or early this year. They were way off. If the condition of the track is a problem, NS could and should have known this long ago. They were allowed to inspect the line at any time, under the terms of the lease, and probably should have been monitoring it if they had interest in using the line in the future. Trackwork season for the Tier usually begins in August at the earliest. I'm very interested in seeing what happens this year along the CNY.

When you are looking at traffic levels, you have to look more locally than on a national level. I think to say that .2% being called "way down" sounds like a headline by CNN or some other network trying to hype things. Locally, traffic out of NJ is at pre-recession levels and container traffic at the ports is growing. If NS wants to grow their traffic base, the Tier is virtually their only option if they want to keep moving in shared assets. The question is whether or not they want to expand their traffic to the levels it could be.

Currently I am seeing sporadic trucking shortages throughout the country. High gas prices are also hurting the trucking industry. If the new laws and regulations remain in tact this year, the problems will grow exponentially. I'd be a lot more excited for the railroads if I thought they were in the position to take the traffic away.

SJ-I love your optimism..I share it and want to see trains too bro!
Is the Lehigh Line at capacity?? Maybe someone in the biz can answer that.
I had heard NS was to electrify the Royce runner in Manville(yet to be done) and make other upgrades to the Lehigh line(double track through Phillipsburg)
Also, Croxton yard still has room to expand(west end/new yard)...will they upgrade this further??

blockline4180 wrote:

Matt Langworthy wrote: i wouldn't call K4Pacific's comments guess work. He seems to have some pretty good connections with NS and at least 1 shortline.

Yeah, and do you know this for a fact??

It seems "chief" also has some railroad connections in high places as well... So in the end someone will be right and someone will be wrong!!

Yes, it is factual. At least one of the other posters in this forum has vouched for K4Pacific in a professional capacity.

I want to be an optimist but also a realist. There is so much potential out there in the intermodal market, it's crazy. The realist in me thinks that the railroads will pick up small portions of it very slowly. I personally think NS has lost much business it could have had over the years and even more in the past 6-12 months because they weren't and aren't ready for it. NS isn't alone in this. If you drive on Rt 78 through NJ, you can take not of the sheer volume of trucks on that one road. If NS could pick up about 1% of them, they could probably double the amount of Intermodal trains on the Lehigh.

If traffic on the East Tier does come, it will come very slowly. You won't see 10 trains per day for a LONG while. Nevertheless I am certain that NS is considering the Tier in their plans... I've heard this from people that dont know what railroad.net is. Whether or not it comes to fruition is a different story. I would think that if it is going to happen any time soon, you should start seeing work being done in the next couple of months.

SecaucusJunction wrote:I want to be an optimist but also a realist. There is so much potential out there in the intermodal market, it's crazy. The realist in me thinks that the railroads will pick up small portions of it very slowly. I personally think NS has lost much business it could have had over the years and even more in the past 6-12 months because they weren't and aren't ready for it. NS isn't alone in this. If you drive on Rt 78 through NJ, you can take not of the sheer volume of trucks on that one road. If NS could pick up about 1% of them, they could probably double the amount of Intermodal trains on the Lehigh.

If traffic on the East Tier does come, it will come very slowly. You won't see 10 trains per day for a LONG while. Nevertheless I am certain that NS is considering the Tier in their plans... I've heard this from people that dont know what railroad.net is. Whether or not it comes to fruition is a different story. I would think that if it is going to happen any time soon, you should start seeing work being done in the next couple of months.

This!

Anyone seen any more NS tie gondolas east of Binghamton? I'm just wondering where they might be and if any more have been spotted in the past couple weeks. Hoping for some work to be done soon. If no work is done before winter, I'm going to have a hard time believing that they will start service within the next year.

SecaucusJunction wrote: If no work is done before winter, I'm going to have a hard time believing that they will start service within the next year.

Are you kidding me??? I hope your not serious! For one, to believe that service will start on the Eastern Tier in the next year must be looking at this project through rose colored glasses! Call me when you wake up to reality and step back to planet earth please!!

While we wait for more trains.......

Does anyone have what the latest track speed is for Passenger trains on the East End of the tier between PJ and Bingo. I'm trying to plan out how many stops I can make while chasing the Bennet Levin Special in early August. Is the Passenger Special even going to be considered a passenger train, or will they make them follow current speeds for freight. Thanks in Advance

SecaucusJunction wrote:Anyone seen any more NS tie gondolas east of Binghamton? I'm just wondering where they might be and if any more have been spotted in the past couple weeks. Hoping for some work to be done soon. If no work is done before winter, I'm going to have a hard time believing that they will start service within the next year.

Today there was a string of them lined up east of Frito Lay in Kirkwood.

markyk wrote:While we wait for more trains.......

Does anyone have what the latest track speed is for Passenger trains on the East End of the tier between PJ and Bingo. I'm trying to plan out how many stops I can make while chasing the Bennet Levin Special in early August. Is the Passenger Special even going to be considered a passenger train, or will they make them follow current speeds for freight. Thanks in Advance

what date is this? that would be something i couls chase. and the speed is between 35-40 mph. not sure how accurate that is, but that is usually how the NYSW trains run.

I believe August 5 is the day but get out early.

Thanks for the location of the tie gons. Any approximation of number of cars?