Official Rahway Valley Thread

A real shame indeed, apparent misuse of taxpayers money and what a waste when you think of all the work that already went into the restoration so far.
What a Moot point!!!

The sad thing is, there are four customers on the Rahway Valley that are very interested in rail service. I know one of them is very unhappy about the current situation. Unfortunately, with the State of New Jersey's fiscal situation, there are no funds available in the Transportation Trust Fund, or anywhere else. The State has also said they will rebuild the Route 22 crossing and 1500' on either side, but this portion of the project has not been included in any budget appropriations for the near future. And before anyone asks, I am not going to mention the name of any potential future customer. I don't want to see them get caught up in all of the political and NIMBY garbage surrounding the reactivation. For now, the project is dormant. Will it be revived? If I could predict the future, I would play the winning lottery numbers every time.

cjl330 wrote:The sad thing is, there are four customers on the Rahway Valley that are very interested in rail service. I know one of them is very unhappy about the current situation. Unfortunately, with the State of New Jersey's fiscal situation, there are no funds available in the Transportation Trust Fund, or anywhere else. The State has also said they will rebuild the Route 22 crossing and 1500' on either side, but this portion of the project has not been included in any budget appropriations for the near future. And before anyone asks, I am not going to mention the name of any potential future customer. I don't want to see them get caught up in all of the political and NIMBY garbage surrounding the reactivation. For now, the project is dormant. Will it be revived? If I could predict the future, I would play the winning lottery numbers every time.

Good points my friend! From an operational standpoint on the railroad there are other reasons behind the customers frustrations, but I'd rather not discuss it in here..

Every time the issue of customers, or the lack thereof, the same line is always repeated. There are customers, but they will not be identified. Perhaps if these potential customers were to identify themselves money would be forthcoming. As it stands, I can say with some certainty that no money will be allocated until at least one customer-to-be comes forward to the right people to request that the railroad be completed.

Sirsonic wrote:Every time the issue of customers, or the lack thereof, the same line is always repeated. There are customers, but they will not be identified. Perhaps if these potential customers were to identify themselves money would be forthcoming. As it stands, I can say with some certainty that no money will be allocated until at least one customer-to-be comes forward to the right people to request that the railroad be completed.

Exactly. If there were customers that truely would generate a significant number of annual carloads, and were willing to enter into a contract for a term for service, that could form the basis for a commercial lender to advance the funds to complete the restoration. The state or county would not necessarily have to provide more funds.

The customers are not going to enter into a contract without an active rail line, and there will be no further work done to make the rail line active without committed customers. A great stalemate. I doubt very highly any private financing will enter the picture, being that the line is state owned and the reactivation is a state funded project managed by Union County. Even though the project is dormant, there are still ongoing negotiations to see what can be done in the future. How far in the future is anyone's guess. And if I am one of those possible future customers, I certanly don't want it publicized out of fear of retribution from those wonderful people at Stop The Train and all of their friends. Those people are so zealous that they are now attacking the possible reactivation of the Lackawanna Cutoff. I had the experience of listening to them at the public meetings regarding the reactivation, and most recently I got deal with them up close and personal when M&E was moving some hoppers from Bayway to Cranford. To put it nicely, they are EXTREMELY PASSIONATE about their cause.

trainlawyer wrote:It is absolutely remarkable how most local politicians will listen to their tax base!

I've been a tax base for better than 30 yrs and they haven't listened to me yet!

One thing you are forgetting are the businesses looking to relocate. One of my company's clients was looking to do just that. A property next to the Rahway Valley was recommended, and it was basically a perfect fit. And WHY did they choose another location over that one? You guessed it. The rail line WAS NOT ACTIVE. And there was no guarantee of when, or if it was going to become active. Anyway, I know there is absolutely nothing I can say that will satisfy those of you who are against this project and/or have a personal gripe with the M&E. That's OK. This forum is here for everyone to express their opinion. I am a supporter of the project. I feel it has potential.

cjl330 wrote:The sad thing is, there are four customers on the Rahway Valley that are very interested in rail service. I know one of them is very unhappy about the current situation. Unfortunately, with the State of New Jersey's fiscal situation, there are no funds available in the Transportation Trust Fund, or anywhere else. The State has also said they will rebuild the Route 22 crossing and 1500' on either side, but this portion of the project has not been included in any budget appropriations for the near future. And before anyone asks, I am not going to mention the name of any potential future customer. I don't want to see them get caught up in all of the political and NIMBY garbage surrounding the reactivation. For now, the project is dormant. Will it be revived? If I could predict the future, I would play the winning lottery numbers every time.

just out of curiosity, how realistic would the reconstruction of the 22 crossing be? that's a pretty busy highway, and i find it hard to imagine that you could actually bring it to a complete standstill in a reasonable amount of time to bring down the gates and let a train cross it. i also imagine that the backups that would be created would be completely ridiculous.

thoughts?

I can not see where the actual crossing, rails, ties and pavement, needs to be rebuilt. It actually looks like it was recently rebuilt with new ties and heavy rail. "Recently" in railroad time 10 to 15 years.

The crossing signals are a different matter. They would need to be replaced. Depending on type of service flashing cross bucks and overhead flashers should suffice. I recall in last years of operation the crew used flares and a lot of noise - the HORN. The long crossing blast was LONG.

lensovet wrote:

cjl330 wrote:The sad thing is, there are four customers on the Rahway Valley that are very interested in rail service. I know one of them is very unhappy about the current situation. Unfortunately, with the State of New Jersey's fiscal situation, there are no funds available in the Transportation Trust Fund, or anywhere else. The State has also said they will rebuild the Route 22 crossing and 1500' on either side, but this portion of the project has not been included in any budget appropriations for the near future. And before anyone asks, I am not going to mention the name of any potential future customer. I don't want to see them get caught up in all of the political and NIMBY garbage surrounding the reactivation. For now, the project is dormant. Will it be revived? If I could predict the future, I would play the winning lottery numbers every time.

just out of curiosity, how realistic would the reconstruction of the 22 crossing be? that's a pretty busy highway, and i find it hard to imagine that you could actually bring it to a complete standstill in a reasonable amount of time to bring down the gates and let a train cross it. i also imagine that the backups that would be created would be completely ridiculous.

thoughts?

Last time I looked at a NJ Driver's Manual, trains have the right of way. When the gates go down, and the train toots its horn, drivers better steer clear or face the consequences.

I don't think you'll see a train going through at 40 mph...more like 15 mph... so the gates have plenty of time to go down and the cars have plenty of time to come to a stop before a train comes by. Just a guess of what it would be like.

geoffand wrote:Last time I looked at a NJ Driver's Manual, trains have the right of way. When the gates go down, and the train toots its horn, drivers better steer clear or face the consequences.

obviously, i'm just curious how feasible it is for people accustomed to driving 50+ to come to a full stop. and in response to the other post, i really don't think the rails are up to snuff there.

I don't think it would be that big of a deal to stop cars rolling along at 50mph down 22... travel a little further west and you have plenty of traffic lights on 22 that stop thousands of cars every day with no problem.

james1787 wrote:I don't think it would be that big of a deal to stop cars rolling along at 50mph down 22... travel a little further west and you have plenty of traffic lights on 22 that stop thousands of cars every day with no problem.

I used to go thru there every morning at 8am...you wouldn't have to worry about crossing then; the traffic is almost stopped anyway!

wis bang wrote: I used to go thru there every morning at 8am...you wouldn't have to worry about crossing then; the traffic is almost stopped anyway!

Good point. Ever see that part of the highway in the evening going west during rush hour? I think the train would have to wait for cars to inch off the tracks!