by Bracdude181
Very interesting finds JohnFromJersey. Had no idea that the state was so interested in this line. I believe any sort of passenger rail potential was already discussed on the MOM topic, but I’m not sure if we would ever see NJT go all the way down to Atlantic City from Central NJ. As it stands they don’t really want to keep the Atlantic City Line operating as they are tired of the low ridership, but that’s another story.
As for the freight:
I think the two day travel time reduction is because of the Trenton Sub. As it is now that line is set up weird. It’s single track so trains stopping to work yards/customers block the main and any trains behind them get stuck as well. Especially between Langhorne PA and Manville NJ. Some customers like the big distribution center in West Trenton get worked by every single train that goes through there! Even the oil train stops to work that place sometimes, and it can often take hours!! By the time all this is done at least one train is gonna have to tie down in Manville or somewhere else because the crews shift is up, and sometimes it can be a day or so before the re-crew arrives.
Not sure how this would speed things up for NS as I don’t know much about what they do outside the Conrail Lehigh Line, but North Jersey to South Jersey is less direct for them.
The desire for a more direct route to Bridgeton is interesting…
Also yes, most South Jersey trains originate and terminate in Camden. Mostly locals with a few transfers.
NJSLs track was in worse shape because it was used longer and they kept derailing at one spot towards the end, but it wasn’t all that much to fix it. $152 million to fix the whole thing is insane though. At that price you may as well rip everything up and start over from scratch!
Fort Dix gets a lot of green crates into their base via flatbed truck. No idea what’s in them or where they come from, but maybe they could come in by boxcar?
I too have studied the intermodal potential of the Southern. Most intermodal traffic around here is tricked into Lakewood from the CSX yard in Philadelphia. The only real way you’d get that into the Ocean County area in a viable way would be to use this:
https://railrunner.com/
Most of the other intermodal stuff in Central NJ comes in by truck by I-95, often from Oak Island. This arrangement has caused huge traffic congestion in Newark and in the Cranbury-Dayton area. Most of the customers there who tried boxcar shipping recently only did so as a test run and do not continue doing it after a few weeks.
Not sure how South Jersey is intermodal wise.
As for the freight:
I think the two day travel time reduction is because of the Trenton Sub. As it is now that line is set up weird. It’s single track so trains stopping to work yards/customers block the main and any trains behind them get stuck as well. Especially between Langhorne PA and Manville NJ. Some customers like the big distribution center in West Trenton get worked by every single train that goes through there! Even the oil train stops to work that place sometimes, and it can often take hours!! By the time all this is done at least one train is gonna have to tie down in Manville or somewhere else because the crews shift is up, and sometimes it can be a day or so before the re-crew arrives.
Not sure how this would speed things up for NS as I don’t know much about what they do outside the Conrail Lehigh Line, but North Jersey to South Jersey is less direct for them.
The desire for a more direct route to Bridgeton is interesting…
Also yes, most South Jersey trains originate and terminate in Camden. Mostly locals with a few transfers.
NJSLs track was in worse shape because it was used longer and they kept derailing at one spot towards the end, but it wasn’t all that much to fix it. $152 million to fix the whole thing is insane though. At that price you may as well rip everything up and start over from scratch!
Fort Dix gets a lot of green crates into their base via flatbed truck. No idea what’s in them or where they come from, but maybe they could come in by boxcar?
I too have studied the intermodal potential of the Southern. Most intermodal traffic around here is tricked into Lakewood from the CSX yard in Philadelphia. The only real way you’d get that into the Ocean County area in a viable way would be to use this:
https://railrunner.com/
Most of the other intermodal stuff in Central NJ comes in by truck by I-95, often from Oak Island. This arrangement has caused huge traffic congestion in Newark and in the Cranbury-Dayton area. Most of the customers there who tried boxcar shipping recently only did so as a test run and do not continue doing it after a few weeks.
Not sure how South Jersey is intermodal wise.