NJT Emergency Equipment Storage (Delco Lead and County Yard resilience project)

I don't know exactly how much got done in Dec 2019 (see the previous post, 2 -1/2 years ago), but now it sounds like things might really get going:
https://www.nj.com/news/2022/04/almost- ... rains.html
Fair use quote: "A $183 million Federal Transit Administration grant would build a service and inspection building and five new tracks at County Yard in New Brunswick, to hold 144 rail cars and locomotives, NJ Transit officials said. The state would provide $60 million in matching funds.
The state would pay the entire $125 million to build a second five-mile track next to the Delco lead, an industrial track in North Brunswick along to the Northeast Corridor line, to store 288 trains on during a storm."

Perhaps they mean 288 cars, not 288 trains.

Jim S

Looks like that initial work was mostly clearing and demolition. This one isn't much more, but maybe they finally got the funding lined up? The article mentions that NJT didn't get a final judgement on their insurance payments from Sandy until 2021. That's a long time to be fighting for reimbursement. I have to wonder, too, how much less that money is worth now due to inflation.

Worth noting also that the original plans called for 400+ rail cars, so 288 is quite a bit of a downsize.

The way I read it is 288 cars on the Delco lead, and 144 more at County Yard, so then you are back to ~430.
Maybe 5 more years and then we'll find out.

I am always amazed at construction costs in NJ, but $5M/mile for a siding ($25 M for 5 miles) still surprises me.

If anyone has seen any concrete plans or diagrams, please post a link.

You missed a 1. It’s 125 for five miles, so 25/mile? Though a 5-mile track seems insanely long no? Do they mean five 1-mile tracks?

That said, they are going to be stringing new catenary including supports so I guess that’s not cheap especially with the price of copper these days.

Since this came up in another thread, here's the NJT press release (which fails to render properly for me but I can still read it for now in reader mode in Safari): https://www.njtransit.com/press-release ... cy-project

The contract with Union Paving for $6,080,015 is for the first construction phase of the project which will include preparing the site for the subsequent construction phase for the service yard, Inspection Facility, Delco Lead, and remaining County Yard Improvement Project elements.
…
The early action phase of the Delco Lead project is anticipated to be completed in late summer 2023.

fingers crossed…

They should name it the James Weinstein emergency storage yard.

Somewhere like a year ago I thought I read somewhere that they were going to double track the Delco lead so they had room for more cars. Has anyone seen that in a plan?

Or perhaps it was I read the plan called for them laying a new track, which I interpreted to mean double track for the Delco lead to store more cars. It may be that as part of the new North Brunswick station, the Delco track was being moved over, and that is what they were talking about. In the links to computer renderings of the possible new station, the Delco lead is right up against the westbound local track. Whether Delco was moving over closer to the main tracks or the westbound local track was moving towards the Delco track (to make space for the new platform at North Brunswick) or something else entirely, I don't know. In any case the Delco was single tracked in those pictures (besides the 4 main tracks). Maybe the 2nd track Delco section, if its' for real and not in my imagination or misinterpretation, would starting further west past the new station.

No formal engineering drawings have been put up for that yet. The only plans that have been drawn up have been for clearing the existing tracks around Jersey Ave and that was the contract that was awarded last year.

A more general plan was developed and approved by the feds here: https://njtransitresilienceprogram.com/ ... ebsite.pdf

Thanks. A lot to digest there. But the first paragraph had what I was looking for:
"The Delco Lead improvements will include removal of an existing freight track and construction of two new tracks (except in the vicinity of the How Lane Bridge) for storage of NJ TRANSIT equipment during severe weather events."

Note the 2 new tracks to replace the current freight track (the existing Delco lead, I assume. ) Not sure if that means get rid of Delco lead and build two new tracks, or rebuilt Delco lead for part of it.

I didn't see the 2nd new track in the recently posted renderings on the North Brunswick station thread. Just a single new Delco lead. How Lane is much further east - near the junction with the Millstone branch by Jersey Ave station.
I'll just have to wait it out I assume. I figure I have at best 20 years before I am too old to pay attention to any of this (assuming I am paying attention to anything...). Just have to wait and see..

From page 4-2:

The existing freight track on the Delco Lead will be removed and two new tracks will be installed within the existing railroad right-of-way, except in the vicinity of How Lane, where a single track bridge will remain.

Page 2-5 also mentions this together with the need to procure land from Conrail (27 acres) for the construction.

Page 3-14 calls out that freight movements will need to be preserved after construction is complete:

The Build Alternative is being designed to accommodate the operational movements of Conrail’s freight service, which include the ability to access the Millstone Branch from County Interlocking. Both the yard and the S&I Facility will have “run through” capability where a train can enter from the east and exit to the west, which will minimize unnecessary train movements in the yard. The design will enable an efficient operation with a quick turnaround of fleet and high reliability to maintain and/or resume operations quickly.

I feel like we keep confusing ourselves about this project when in fact we all figured it out earlier in the thread. Perhaps it's because of how long this project takes or the recent merging of the two threads.

At this point in time, clearing of County Yard is largely complete (you can see this from passing trains, it looks quite different from a year ago). Construction of the full project (Delco Lead removal and replacement with two tracks for train storage + County Yard improvements and inspection facility construction) has been sent out to bid on 10/24/23 with bids due on 1/30/24. Having watched how some of these other things go, the actual deadline will probably get pushed out due to questions being raised and amendments issued.

NJT has received federal funding to get this done under the auspices of infrastructure and resiliency, as well as having a project that's ready to build because all of the engineering work has been done (contrary to what I said earlier in this thread, it appears that the Delco Lead engineering work has in fact been completed at this point in time).

As expected, due to questions and amendments being issued, the updated submission deadline is now April 25 of this year.

lensovet wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2024 12:34 am As expected, due to questions and amendments being issued, the updated submission deadline is now April 25 of this year.

You can sense the real urgency to get this project off the ground.

OportRailfan wrote: ↑Tue Mar 19, 2024 2:09 pm

lensovet wrote: ↑Thu Feb 01, 2024 12:34 am As expected, due to questions and amendments being issued, the updated submission deadline is now April 25 of this year.

You can sense the real urgency to get this project off the ground.

If bidders keep wasting time with useless questions, there's not much NJT can legally do, I suspect.