@ccutler No. Just….No…..
NJT is one of the most, if not THE most strict railroads in the country when it comes to freight trains sharing their networks. They say want can and can’t come down, when it can come down, what engines are allowed and what engines aren’t, and the engines must meet certain standards. Standards which C&D hasn’t been meeting but I’ll get into that.
Freight railroads pay per mile to use NJTs tracks as well.
There is no thriving freight on the Raritan Valley Line. There’s like only 4 customers left and an industrial track that sees so little use it’s practically abandoned at this point. The majority of cars on the RV line go to the plastics transloader in Bound Brook.
Traffic on the Bergen Main Line has been going down for a while. NS H55 was abolished lately, and with the way NS is going H56 and H80 are probably on borrowed time too.
As for the Coast Line:
Well, when they put the catenary wires up, they tore out a freight siding on the Coast Line in 1982 without permission, and later on they scared away everyone else from Red Bank to Bay Head. They have used their freight car restrictions to scare away current and potential customers on the Southern Secondary, (Brick Recycling, EH Allen Pole, Red Bank Recycling, Seaway Intermodal, another guy in Farmingdale who shipped outbound tar loads, etc)
As for C&D, I think NJT has the right to be upset if C&D has been doing the following:
Bringing engines with severe flat spots.
Bringing engines that leak oil from the wheel bearings.
Bringing engines that have faulty brakes.
Leading trains with engines that aren’t equipped with PTC (C&D 2005)
Failing to have an EOTD on the end of all trains.
Speeding (45 in a 40)
Bringing down freight cars with flat spots.
Bringing Plate F cars into areas they say are cleared for Plate C on their website (?!)
That’s everything I know about at least. There’s a few more things NJT gets mad at that are kind nitpicking like excessive horn usage but I haven’t heard the full story on that stuff yet.
One more thing, if NJT is so accepting of freight trains and wants to help improve them. Why is the majority of their network incapable of excepting modern day 286,000 pound freight cars? Why weren’t the catenary wires put up on the Coast Line that were put up after 1980 high enough for Plate F? Why aren’t they putting any money towards Farmingdale to Freehold being reopened since they at least partially own that? Why do they have so many restrictions on what can and can’t come down the Coast Line?