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  • Inspection fee is rough ride for rail line

  • Discussion relating to the PRSL
Discussion relating to the PRSL

Moderator: JJMDiMunno

 #537101  by themallard
 
BUENA VISTA -- A newly imposed rail-inspection fee has officials worried the federal government is trying to squeeze the profits out of Cape May Seashore Lines, a key component of the township's successful Richland Village economic revitalization initiative.
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The latest Federal Railroad Administration directive requires a once-a-week inspection of the 15-mile section of track Cape May Seashore Lines has been using since October 2005.
The Daily Journal

 #537116  by blockline4180
 
Hmmm, perhaps this is part of the reason for the hold up for passenger trains this year??

 #537344  by rrbluesman
 
The article seems a little misleading to me. I was under the impression that ConRail is the owner of the Beesley's Point Secondary Track, not NJDOT. NJDOT does own the Cape May Branch from Tuckahoe to Cape May, I knew that. I think there's more to the story than the article would indicate.

 #539088  by JJMDiMunno
 
rrbluesman wrote:The article seems a little misleading to me. I was under the impression that ConRail is the owner of the Beesley's Point Secondary Track, not NJDOT. NJDOT does own the Cape May Branch from Tuckahoe to Cape May, I knew that. I think there's more to the story than the article would indicate.
The Beesley Point Secondary from Winslow to Palermo, as well as the Cape May Branch between Tuckahoe and Cape May City are both under ownership of the New Jersey Transportation Authority (NJT). Conrail has rights to operate freight trains to the power plant at Palermo under an agreement with NJT, as well as dispatch movements over the aforementioned track as a result of an easement that it retained when it passed ownership of the above property to NJT years ago. CMSL has rights to operate passenger excursion trains between Richland and Tuckahoe, as well as exclusive rights to all traffic operated over the Cape May Branch between Tuckahoe and Cape May, as well as any traffic over the Cape May Point Branch.

In addition to the above, Conrail is responsible for maintenance of the Beesley Point Secondary between Winslow and Palermo as part of the agreement that it shares with NJT for operation. Included in this maintenance agreement is the mentioned inspections of track. Inspections as I'd heard do occur weekly, generally just preceeding the movement of a coal train (either empty or loaded).

What does Conrail own? The approx. 3 mile branch between DCS-PAL (Palermo) and the Beesley Point powerplant, known as the Beesley Point Industrial Track.

Mike DiMunno

 #539312  by JimBoylan
 
A possible reason and justification for requesting a partial exemption from the regulation would be to schedule the weekly inspection 1 or 2 days before the days the passenger train runs, if it only runs on weekends. The rule would still be being followed for the freight trains, and it could be argued that the passenger trains are getting the same level of safety as full compliance with the rule could provide.