Hampton Roads/Norfolk/Newport News NE Regional Service

The EGE wrote:There are 7 grade crossings in under a mile, plus the at-grade freight interchange. I imagine speeds over a diamond are limited.

Additionally, Suffolk is an obvious choice for an infill station in a few years, so there's no sense getting speeds terribly high through town.

The original plan for the Norfolk service calls for a station in the Bower's Hill section of Cheasapeake, about 10 miles east of downtown Suffolk. If that station is built, I doubt we'll see one in downtown Suffolk.

Wherever an infill station is added later, we have to remember this is a new train service that had to submit an environmental impact statement along with appropriate actions to minimize impacts. Amongst the impacts that arises most often within residential areas in towns and cities is noise. The easiest way to reduce noise, and for that matter vibrations, by trains is to slow the train down. This train leaves Norfolk very early in the morning,when most residents are still asleep, and will be traveling through Suffolk fairly early too. And the noise levels allowed in residential areas is low to begin with, and 10 db lower at night when most are sleeping. Other things that could be done is to add insulation to effected homes, erect sound walls along the rail corridor, and implement quiet zones at crossings. I'll admit I'm not that familiar with the track conditions in Suffolk, but slowing an early morning train down is the cheapest and easiest thing to do to lower noise and vibration impacts.

How did they run a test train if the interlocking to the connecting track isn't finished yet?

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3232926

Jersey_Mike wrote:How did they run a test train if the interlocking to the connecting track isn't finished yet?

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3232926

Just north of the Collier Yard office, near NE Collier interlocking, there is a connecting track between the old SCL and the old N&W that is used today for interchange between NS and CSX. If the test train used it, it would proceed west towards Crewe, clear ?Seacoast,and then reverse east towards Norfolk. I have an unconfirmed report that the switch at Walnut Hill to the new CSX connection is not remote, but radio controlled.

Andy

I knew about the connection, but it seems odd that Amtrak would want to test out the new line before the new line is complete. Is the interchange track going to need to be used for this service while the new connection is put into operation?

Jersey_Mike wrote:I knew about the connection, but it seems odd that Amtrak would want to test out the new line before the new line is complete. Is the interchange track going to need to be used for this service while the new connection is put into operation?

Here is what I was able to learn from VA's VRPT today:

The CSX turnout is installed with the final main line and connection track work is underway

Andy

Jersey_Mike wrote:I knew about the connection, but it seems odd that Amtrak would want to test out the new line before the new line is complete. Is the interchange track going to need to be used for this service while the new connection is put into operation?

This way you can get crews qualified on the sections that are in service.

Won't they need to qualify them again on the connector? Sounds easier just to wait.

I just learned that the CSX interlocking that will control the switch to the NS Norfolk District connection is supposed to be cut over on Nov. 17.

Andy

twropr wrote:I just learned that the CSX interlocking that will control the switch to the NS Norfolk District connection is supposed to be cut over on Nov. 17.

For a service that's scheduled to start Dec 12, that sounds like pretty good timing, yes?

What is the distance from Richmond to Norfolk via this route?

CComMack wrote:

ThirdRail7 wrote:We can wait until it gets a little closer to the start up date and get an idea of how people are using this new service. I looked at a few dates and to my surprise, people are using it "through" DC and RVR.

However, it is very early.

That's very interesting. I was concerned that geography was working against through-ridership, since drivers can use the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel to cut about 60 miles off trips to points beyond Wilmington (to say nothing of Washington and Baltimore congestion). I will be interested to find out if the final numbers show a proportional dropoff in the ratios of NFK-PHL and NFK-NYP to NFK-WAS ridership, as compared to the ratios of RVR-PHL and RVR-NYP to RVR-WAS.

Still monitoring this. As the numbers increase, the "through" trend continues.

Martin Baumann wrote:What is the distance from Richmond to Norfolk via this route?

113 miles.

Four weeks away from the first run and Amtrak has agreed to add 4 cars to the train leaving Norfolk December 12th.

RICHMOND-- Demand for tickets on the new Amtrak Virginia service from Norfolk has lead the rail service to add an additional four cars with 280 more seats for the first day of service, December 12, 2012.

http://www.wvec.com/news/Amtrak-adds-4- ... 47311.html

Before long they'll either be talking about lengthening the platform or adding another train. At least there's plenty of parking available at Harbor Park.

jstolberg wrote:Before long they'll either be talking about lengthening the platform or adding another train. At least there's plenty of parking available at Harbor Park.

The plan is to expand to 3 trains a day from Norfolk, although that may take a few years to get to 3 daily trains. The constraint is CSX south of Staples Mill, but Virginia DRPT appears to be working with CSX on addressing the bottlenecks with additional future track work and adding a new bridge with a 2nd track across the Appomattox River.

From the images and drawings of the Norfolk Harbor Park station, it has a long platform, although low level.

afiggatt wrote:
From the images and drawings of the Norfolk Harbor Park station, it has a long platform, although low level.

The platform is definitely high level. There was an image briefly on Wikipedia (since deleted because of doubts over whether the uploader owned the images) that clearly showed a high-level platform.