Connecticut River Line (Pan Am)

EDFLD Bill wrote:This is the Interlocking behind National Grid's King Street Substation & McDonalds... The north end of the double track.

I bike that spot a lot on the rail trail. Looks like they are clearing the area for the tunnel. Just a guess.

Rich

lexon wrote:I bike that spot a lot on the rail trail. Looks like they are clearing the area for the tunnel. Just a guess.
Rich

That seems a good guess for behind the King St McDonalds: The long-delayed underpass tunnel for the Norwottuck Trail.
Friom a Summer 2015 Trail newsletter:

After many years of no train service, Amtrak returned
to Northampton this past December. The temporary station
is installed and working and the permanent station
is on track to open in 2016. As part of this project the
long-awaited tunnel will connect the two sides of the
trail network in Northampton.
Until the underpass is opened, all trail users should
travel on the officially designated road connection instead
of illegally crossing the tracks. This is important
because the trains will be traveling much faster than in
previous years. The rail upgrade project contractors will
be adding new fences to deter trespassing. The official
road detour (on Market Street to North Street) is wellsignposted
and needs to be the default for all users to
ensure safe crossings. While the delay for this tunnel
is unfortunate, many trail users are finding their way
on the detour and exploring our wonderful network of
trails

Work on the underpass in Northampton started a few weeks ago, with the clearing of trees and other vegetation. The MBTA issues a Notice to Proceed on June 2, 2016. The projected completion date (at the moment) is October 25, 2017.

Further details, including a civil general plan of the site, can be found on this TrainsInTheValley.org webpage:
https://trainsinthevalley.org/northampton-underpass/

Some time ago, someone cut the fence behind Walgreen's and placed a couple pallets on the opposite side for walkers. I have seen many crossing on foot, usually mother's with kids and teens, and occasionally carrying a bike. I bike the street across from D&D.

L

Video by Chessicat97:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq2aOqWk7Vc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NECR and PAS lawyers are still duking it out over discovery: NECR lawyers are saying PAS hasn't produced all requested docs and info while PAS lawyers say too much irrelevant info has been requested. I skimmed through the latest 83 page STB submittal filed by NECR lawyers to see what nuggets there might be and in general it was pretty tedious stuff.

Here's the filing for any insomniacs out there...

https://www.stb.gov/filings/all.nsf/ba7 ... 241964.pdf

One tidbit that was sorta interesting is that PAS revealed how much they spent on average annually on fuel to provide service over the track rights mileage:

Per John Morris of PAS's Mechanical Department, PAS's locomotives burn on the average 3.5 Gallons per hour [editor's note: the following calcs make sense if he meant 3.5 gallons per mile]. PAS
generally uses two units per day over the NECR trackage rights, so the math would work as follows: 3.5 x 2 x 145.6 miles= 1,019.2 Gallons. 1,019.2 x $2.50 = $2,548 per day. $2,548 x 5 x 52 = $662,480 annual fuel expense. The total trackage rights are 72.8 miles. A round trip is 145.6 miles. PAS' s fuel price at E. Deerfield today is $1.80 per gallon, but historically has been much higher. Thus, Mr. Morris used $2.50 per gallon because PAS' s fuel surcharge tariff is designed to recover any amount over $2.50 per gallon.

Also PAS says in their reply to NECR that the only haulage traffic that PAS operates for another RR is NS oriented traffic. Wasn't there some supposition that PAS was toting WACR/VRS haulage traffic between WRJ and Bellows Falls and that was business that NECR thought PAS was not supposed to haul per the trackage rights agreement?

It never worked out because of this STB business. As far as I am aware there is nothing in any agreement preventing it either.

They are digging now. Just saw a couple photos from a Facebook friend who rides that area also.
I thought of riding up there but threat of rain.

Rich

Good news wrt NECR v. Pan Am dispute over trackage rights fees: Both parties agree that the discovery phase has come to an end per NECR's Motion to Withdraw filing at the STB:

https://www.stb.gov/filings/all.nsf/ba7 ... 242100.pdf

lexon wrote:They are digging now. Just saw a couple photos from a Facebook friend who rides that area also.
I thought of riding up there but threat of rain.

Rich

Forgot to mention, steel to support the roadbed for the rail trail tunnel is being installed.
The trail from Hadley direction will lead about directly into the tunnel.
When I first posted, nothing being done behind KFC at the time.

Rich

Anthony King's shot of the black-lined CSXs -- http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=234666" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -- shows bundled tie-stacks tagged "MADOT," almost reminiscent of Tie City during the Knowledge Corridor build. A quick check of the MassDOT Transit site didn't show anything new, and there seem to be too many for the rail trail tunnel. Anyone know what's going on?

jaymac wrote:Anyone know what's going on?

I saw those too but figured the "more frequent and more local observers" would know ...

Is there still project work to be done in North Adams, MA?

jaymac wrote:Anthony King's shot of the black-lined CSXs -- http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=234666" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; -- shows bundled tie-stacks tagged "MADOT," almost reminiscent of Tie City during the Knowledge Corridor build. A quick check of the MassDOT Transit site didn't show anything new, and there seem to be too many for the rail trail tunnel. Anyone know what's going on?

Those ties, along with others staged to the south, are for the upcoming tie replacement project scheduled for this summer. This project will replace more of the old ties not changed out during the upgrade work of 2012-2014...

EDFLD Bill-
Thanks!

EDFLD Bill wrote:Those ties, along with others staged to the south, are for the upcoming tie replacement project scheduled for this summer. This project will replace more of the old ties not changed out during the upgrade work of 2012-2014...

Sounds like this is what delivers the final class/speed increase on the original track. Any idea of the typical speed increase?

Incidentally, is there an easy place to see the whole timetable for this project?