Arthur Kill Lift Bridge

Does not conrail still haev tugs for car ferries to New Y?orK

JimBoylan wrote:

gravelyfan wrote:For some reason, all transmissions are prefixed with "Security, Security"

It's something like saying "Power Emergency" or "I have a Train Order to transmit" on a railroad radio. There are 3 prefixes of different ranks of urgency, "Pan", "Security", and "Mayday". I'm murdering the Emperor's French, these aren't meant to be English words.

Security is the lowest, and is used for a alert of a situation that (could) affect navigation. A 'heads up' type of call.

Pan is the declaration of a developing emergency, but not yet at the level of being life or property threatening.

Mayday is the declaration of an emergency that does threaten life or property and is a request for immediate assistance from any and all.

bystander wrote:Does not conrail still haev tugs for car ferries to New Y?orK

Conrail never had "tugs".

They stopped marine operations when Conrail first started.

The BEDT floated cars for BEDT & NY Dock as a contractor for Conrail out of Greenville Yard in NJ.

Joe

Yes, the verbal prefixes to a marine broadcast message are in French...ancient maritime custom, don't argue about Freedom Fries, etc. it just is what it is and let it go at that.

Anyway, Securite, with an accent over the last "e" and pronounced See-CURE-IT-ay, which means "Safety" in French, is used to precede marine safety broadcasts of information regarding vessel operations, such as a bridge opening or closing, a ship leaving a berth, a large vessel entering a narrow channel, a tow of unusual proportions and/or dangerous cargo entering restricted waters, or anything else that amounts to the transmitting vessel basically advising everyone else nearby to stay out of the way. As the previous poster said, it's a heads up message.

The next level, Pan, pronounced "Pawn", is in fact to identify messages which while important or urgent, do not rise to the level of immenent distress or emergency. It may be used for such things as to report impending severe weather, advise mariners of missing persons or overdue vessels and request they keep a sharp lookout for them, report any sightings and render aid if possible, or let anyone in the immediate area know that a particular vessel has suffered an engineering or equipment casualty and consequently is restricted in its' ability to maneuver. (For example, drifting at sea while attempting repairs to the main engine.)

Mayday, the English version of "M'aidez", literally "Help Me", is the marine 911 call. Anyone hearing it should drop what they are doing and attempt to locate the vessel in distress and provide any assistance possible. It is only to be used in case of actual imminet peril to life or property, such as a vessel taking on water, on fire or involved in a serious collision; a man overboard; or a serious medical emergency.

Bridge replacement funded: NJ.com

Feds award $76M for 2 rail bridge projects. 1 could ease NJ Transit delays.
...
A second project allocates $17.2 million toward final design and rehabilitation of the Arthur Kill Lift Bridge, which carries rail freight between New Jersey and the Howland Hook container terminal on Staten Island.

That bridge was built in 1959 and is owned by a New York state agency. It is used by container train traveling from Staten Island to connect to the mainland U.S. rail network and trains transporting New York City garbage.

New York City, the New York State Department of Transportation, and Conrail will provide 20% matching funds.
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Cross-threaded to New York State Railfan, Conrail