Phase III - Michigan City to South Bend

When NICTD gets around to completing the Phase III upgrade from Michigan City east, will they also be upgrading the substation power in that sector?
Right now I'm listening to the dispatcher trying to coordinate meets between the weekend runs and the football specials at Olive and the Bendix Runaround, but is adamant that the specials not move until the other train is clear of the Grandview or New Carlisle Substation breaker.
Is it true then that the substations on this sector cannot handle more than one train at a time, and will they be upgraded with the catenary and signals when it happens?

JLJ061 wrote:When NICTD gets around to completing the Phase III upgrade from Michigan City east, will they also be upgrading the substation power in that sector?
Right now I'm listening to the dispatcher trying to coordinate meets between the weekend runs and the football specials at Olive and the Bendix Runaround, but is adamant that the specials not move until the other train is clear of the Grandview or New Carlisle Substation breaker.
Is it true then that the substations on this sector cannot handle more than one train at a time, and will they be upgraded with the catenary and signals when it happens?

The catenary itself will have a larger diameter lobe, and so will be able to transmit more power to trains. That said, the railroad had begun to look into the possibility of using pre-fab or partially pre-fab substations out east to fill in some of the power deficiencies.

I was surprised a few years ago to see a scheduled train go down the old main line at Grandview (one train length) to let the football specials leave the temporary platforms in front of the Bendix plant (along Westmoor). I assume the Bendix runaround is the one along Bendix drive at signal 13 eastbound?

Under normal operations I don't see why two trains would need to move on the same substation. It would only be needed if there were two trains going the same direction at the same time (or two trains moving on Grandview). Scheduling seems to have solved any problems. (Although the extra capacity of having additional substations would be good.)

When the station in South Bend moves to the other side of the airport the main line will no longer pass Grandview ... although I assume that the rails would be left as far as the platforms along Westmoor as an emergency/temporary arrangement.

BTW: Do the substations feed any "distant" segments or are all of them set up to feed one segment east and one segment west of the substation with the break in the two circuits being at the substation?

BTW2: Signs are up at Smilax Rd stating that the crossing will be closed from October 19th (Monday) through October 29th. This is the west end of the Olive passing segment and everything seems to be in place to replace the turnouts and rails for Olive and the freight siding to the west.

I've seen the former main to Bendix Drive station used as a passing siding when football specials are out. I had to attend a wedding last weekend or I would've been out watching trains myself.

I forgot about the USC trains ... my trip last weekend was for my wife's benefit to a store in Chicago with a couple of peeks at the South Shore on the way.

Along with the turnout replacement at Olive, Simlax Rd is having it's crossing replaced. It must be nice to be able to do that without the train traffic.

I've been watching three crossing replacements on the NS in front of my office, and there is no way to shut down the NS Chicago line for a week to replace crossings. The railroad instead single-tracks the line and requires trains to slow down. I cannot imagine what a capacity constraint this puts on the railroad, as well as the extra power needed to move freight when average speeds drop so far. NICTD officials have the perfect conditions to replace a crossing - four trains/day can be bustituted and it causes much less trouble.

Tadman wrote:NICTD officials have the perfect conditions to replace a crossing - four trains/day can be bustituted and it causes much less trouble.

They have planned this well, with the four bridge replacements going on at the same time. It would be impossible to do the bridge replacements under traffic. The county road bridges are more than just replacing a concrete deck with a steel one ... the embankments are being cut back to make the road path wider. And the Pere Marquette bridge removal involves lowering the track over a long stretch. This isn't as simple as the Miller bridge replacement a few years ago (where one bridge replaced another on the same support structure).

The Smilax Rd crossing could have been done in a day (enough to allow trains to pass). It is good that the other projects took the time pressure off.

You know, I think this means the "hump" west of Indiana Route 39 might go away. There's a small bridge at the top of the grade, and on a train doing every bit of MAS will crest the grade and I've experienced a slight lift out of my seat at that point. It doesn't happen every time, so I suspect its only on trains that are really cooking upgrade.

Tadman wrote:You know, I think this means the "hump" west of Indiana Route 39 might go away. There's a small bridge at the top of the grade, and on a train doing every bit of MAS will crest the grade and I've experienced a slight lift out of my seat at that point. It doesn't happen every time, so I suspect its only on trains that are really cooking upgrade.

You are right, sir! That bridge is over the old Pere Marquette line. The line is being lowered to make IN39 the high part of the alignment. The Pere Marquette underpass is now filled in. (I have to get an in progress photo while it is still in progress!)

BTW: Work is underway at Birchim (CR 500E) as well but the crossing is not closed (even though the siding ends just east of the road and extends to the west). I took a quick trip to IN-39 and one of the other construction sites before the sun went down. Workers plugging away in the rain.

(I would have taken a picture of "one rail missing" on the main line at Birchim but I didn't want to interfere with the crew.)

I've been in NW Indiana all week, I'm glad I don't work outside when it acts like this... What a rotten day.