Bridge for NYSW/OnTrack finally to go forward

The Ontrack bridge over Park St. in Syracuse will finally be built after a five year delay. Link to news article from the April 9 Syracuse Post Standard:
http://www.syracuse.com/search/index.ss ... l?syrbubiz

How many "phantom" stations are built around the city?

-otto-

Yesterday afternoon I spent some time at Carousel Center watching for some rail traffic. As I saw the NYSW/Ontrack shuttle come and go two or three times while I was there, I couldn't help but wonder why there is a need for a separate bridge for this service. Would it not have been possible to install a couple of switches so that the Ontrack car could enter the former NYC/Conrail now CSX tracks, cross over using the existing bridge and then a second switch across the bridge to go back onto NYSW track?

I'm not a railroad worker or traffic engineer so I'm sure there are at least a hundred reasons why this is impossible, but from a layman's perspective it just seems logical.

By the way, I caught two westbound freights and eastbound Amtrak #64 (The Maple Leaf), which was right on time, by the way.

It's two separate railroads... CSX does not want to have to bother with allowing th eNYSW train onto their tracks, blocking the mainline, etc... and the NYSW crews would have to be qualified on the CSX territory and rulebook... CSX has enough headaches trying to get Amtrak over their rails without having to worry about yet another carrier as well. The bridge makes sense. But, I will believe it when I ride it!

-otto-

But NYS&W crews are already qualified through there for the run up into and out of DeWitt, unless the passenger and frieght crews are different.

I believe this whole mess represents a giant lack of comunication and
cooperation. 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.
Planning ahead is seldom seen in these endeavors.

STEAM ON

CSX doesn't want to have to deal with several commuter trains a day entering their territory. Not to mention the cost of adding switches, signals, upgrading the computer dispatching system, etc. CSX has a hard enough time getting the few Amtraks through here. Just think what would happen if a CSX dispatcher held the On-Track RDC a few times for an hour or two. So long On-Trak. Easier for NYSW to have their own track and bridge.

[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.

Nothing could be gained from running OnTrack over CSX- it would only be a logistical nightmare. Where are the rest of these stations that were supposedly built at the baseball stadium and other places?

-otto-

The other stations are at the ballpark (end of the line, so to speak), the Walsh Regional Transportation Center for Amtrak/Greyhound/Trailways connections, Carousel Center, Armory Square downtown (near the old DL&W station) and Colvin Street in the SU neighborhood. They are nothing more than sheltered platforms.

This link describes the service and its connection to the Onondaga County IDA.

http://www.trains.com/Content/Dynamic/A ... 2xexlm.asp

As for there being "no benefit," the benefit could have come from operation of this supposed public commuter system at least to the Regional Transportation Center for the last five or six years.

But what do I know? I just see a nearly empty Budd rail car rolling back and forth most of the time.

... and that Budd car will be able to make schedule and travel a lot easier on it's own railroad. But once again, I will believe it when I see it.

-otto-

I rode this once about 4 years ago.
Has any track work been done to up the speeds on the old Lack. right of way?