ThirdRail7 wrote:When the delay reports come in, it usually reflects the large amount of traffic along this route. It seems as if there is literally a wall of trains. <snip>
Perhaps the schedules along this route are no longer realistic. Perhaps a new schedule based upon today's traffic patterns is needed.
Living next to these tracks, some days it definitely seems like a wall of trains. I've heard people talk about getting "double-trained" at 2-track crossings, this is the only place I've ever seen a "triple-train" wait at a 2-track crossing... I don't remember which directions, but as an example, train 1 was traveling on track 1. Just before train 1 finished, train 2 was lumbering slowly across Rt 19. Then, by the time train 2 finished, Train 3 was going by on track 1...
You have to consider that CSX seems to have been doing a lot of major maintenance along the Chicago Line/WLR over the last few years. I know through Bergen Track 1 was replaced in 2009, They just did Track 2 through here this fall... Add in the signal changeovers through the eastern half of the state and routine maintenance, I've seen a heck of a lot of work being done through Bergen just since moving here last winter, and more times than I can count I've witnessed "walls of trains" backed up in either direction, rumbling slowly by at speeds you would typically see them entering a yard. More days than not it does seem to be business as usual, but there are a lot of days when there are backups, I've presumed because of maintenance somewhere; but know that it could be anywhere between Albany and somewhere in Ohio that could be logically causing it based on the of the amount of traffic this road sees. There's not a lot of logical detours nor are there a lot of places for traffic to split between Albany and Buffalo, even farther west of Buffalo really. If it is the maintenance causing these problems, presumably they'll be resolved at some point in the future. Do I know that this is the reason? No, just speculating, but I don't know as the schedules need to be reworked at this point. Particularly as it would probably require reworking the schedules across the country to keep layovers and platform occupancy...
Just my thoughts on the matter... I'm no expert.