Railroad Forums 

  • Naugatuck Intermodal Yard - Pan Am Southern PAS / Poland Spring

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1441048  by CannaScrews
 
The bridge over the Naugatuck River going into Albert Brothers Recycling is having new deck timbers installed. This was the former Waterville & Watertown RR which connected with the original Naugatuck Railroad.
 #1442482  by Scalziand
 
The town of Naugatuck is in negotiations with Pan Am and the current owners of the old Uniroyal factory brownfield to build an intermodal yard there, reports this weeks' (9/1) Citizens News.

Borough eyes former factory site for transportation hub


By Luke Marshall
Staff Writer

NAUGATUCK — The future of Naugatuck lies in intermodal transportation. At least that is what Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess is banking on. Hess said the borough is working with Pan Am Railways, Inc. and “several very large national and international companies from the New England area” to create an intermodal transportation hub on an 86.5 acre parcel of land along Elm Street. An intermodal transportation hub is where goods are moved from one source of transportation, such as a train, to another transportation source, such as a tractor-trailer, before reaching their final destination.

http://thecitizensnews.ct.newsmemory.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1442490  by Sir Ray
 
The article makes it sound more like a transload center than an intermodal terminal, but such articles often use imprecise/incorrect terminology.
 #1442529  by ccutler
 
Seems like there's something behind the scenes at work. On the surface, the economics make no sense. Maybe this is linked to Poland Spring traffic?
 #1442548  by johnpbarlow
 
This paragraph seems a little divorced from the reality of how rail freight is handled in metro NY...
The transportation hub would also help companies that are coming from Europe looking to ship goods north, Hess said. Currently, shipments are loaded onto trains in New York, he said.
“When you are in the New York City you have to maneuver through several sets of train lines to get out. You can’t just land in New York City, get on the train and go direct to Boston. You would have to change several trains, which means changing your cargo several times and negotiating different rates. So, from the converse, when goods come by ports to New York City or Newark, those goods would be sent by truck to Naugatuck and then would go north by train to New England or Canada,” Hess said.
So this traffic would use MN between Naugatuck and Waterbury, Pan Am Southern between Waterbury and Berlin, and Conn River line to/from E Deerfield? My understanding is the PAS line to Waterbury sees a single turn local per week (?) and IIRC the track through downtown New Britain, CT isn't in great condition so some significant track improvement might be needed between Berlin, CT and Waterbury (just like on PAR between NMJ and Lincoln, ME)? Sounds like there's a lot of heavy lifting to get this intermodal/transload service off the ground...
 #1442646  by J.D. Lang
 
So this traffic would use MN between Naugatuck and Waterbury, Pan Am Southern between Waterbury and Berlin, and Conn River line to/from E Deerfield? My understanding is the PAS line to Waterbury sees a single turn local per week (?) and IIRC the track through downtown New Britain, CT isn't in great condition so some significant track improvement might be needed between Berlin, CT and Waterbury (just like on PAR between NMJ and Lincoln, ME)? Sounds like there's a lot of heavy lifting to get this intermodal/transload service off the ground...
Not just that but the whole Uniroyal site has to be one big superfund site. It's going to cost mucho bucks just to remediate. Who is going to pay for that. It would be wonderful to see it happen though.

J. Lang
 #1449469  by johnpbarlow
 
More PR from Naugatuck mayor on the proposed development of transload/intermodal site:

https://www.mycitizensnews.com/news/201 ... long-term/

Relevant excerpt:
Hess, who worked as an attorney in Naugatuck for 40 years, said one of his main focuses over the next two years will be a plan to create an intermodal transportation hub on a mostly-vacant 86.5 acre parcel of land along Elm Street that is currently owned by Chemtura.

Hess is working with Pan Am Railways, the Connecticut Port Authority, the state Department of Transportation and state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to turn the property into a major rail-to-truck transportation hub. Private companies would build warehouses on the site to store the goods.

The other major component of the plan is to build an inland port on the site, an area where goods coming from abroad could go through customs.
 #1449485  by gokeefe
 
Almost exactly 1 hour from Poland Spring Distributing in White Plains, NY and about 20 minutes closer drive time than Plainville.
 #1452869  by johnpbarlow
 
Two things:

1. Good news: Plainville train derailment was quickly cleared Friday AM by Pan Am:
http://www.courant.com/breaking-news/hc ... story.html

2. More PR from Naugatuck mayor about getting Pan Am to service a transload/intermodal site:
https://www.mycitizensnews.com/news/201 ... esurgence/
Hess said the project relies on improvements being made to the Waterbury branch line of the Metro-North Railroad before it can move forward. These improvements include sidings that allow two trains to pass at once, more train cars and moving the train station from its current location at 195 Water St. to Parcel B. These improvements are expected to take years to be completed, Hess said.
Guess it will be a long time before Naugatuck becomes an intermodal hub.
 #1453526  by gokeefe
 
Confirmed today by both Pan Am President David Fink and Commissioner David Bernhardt today at the 29th Annual Meeting of TrainRiders Northeast in Portland:

Pan Am is building a new intermodal center in Naugatuck in order to capture traffic in excess of 600 truckloads of Poland Spring bottled water that goes from Maine to New York City every day.

MaineDOT is actively supporting this project. Commissioner Berhardt noted that the water traffic is likely well in excess of 600 truckloads per day at this point.
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