[quote="O-6-O"]That NYC/PC/CR/CSX bridge over Park ST. is old and
though I,m not a engineer looks rather questionable. A joint CSX/NYS&W
/ goverment effort to build a new bridge(3track) should have been worked out. When that bridge DOES need replacement, no doubt the
railroad will be at the public trough again looking for the bucks.
I have to agree with O-6-O on this point. This project has been dragging for years now because of Conrail's, and later CSX's, recalcitrance. I had often wondered if their claims that the second bridge was somehow going to undermine the footings for the existing bridge was an attempt to get the state and county to foot the bill for an entirely new span.
The existing bridge is old and the traffic flow under it on Park Street is restricted. If the DestiNY USA project ever materializes and traffic patterns in that area have to be reconfigured, including a widening of Park Street and a dedicated exit from I-81 Northbound for the DestiNY traffic, you can be sure that Uncle Sam and Father Knickerbocker will probably be paying for a new CSX span over Park Street.
As for the cost of switches and signals, can it really cost any more than building an entirely new bridge is costing? Since public dollars are building the bridge, probably some of them could flow to improving CSX's property holdings there.
I guess my original point was that with all of the years of squabbling about a second bridge to accommodate an underused service, it might have made sense from the outset to find a way to use existing track. Then, perhaps ONTrack, which some say is underused because it ends at "the Mall," rather than the pretend bus and train station, could have had increased ridership all along.
Time will tell on this one.