charlie6017 wrote:
That sounds about right. In the FGLK thread, there's a link to an article that says NY route 174 near Syracuse is closed account
of damage to the liner of the tunnel/culvert that carries FGLK over the highway. I'm sure NYDOT will keep the railroad's feet to
the fire to get it repaired ASAP.
If for some reason the repair of said tunnel were to require no rail traffic moving above, the connection at Lyons could be
necessary wouldn't it?
Charlie
This is my speculation, not anything official. I still am not convinced the repair is FGLK's responsibility altho you'd expect that would have been brought up by their president in the news article if it was incorrect.
But keep in mind the Geneva-Lyons segment belongs to NS, not FGLK. They have no obligation nor benefit to reactivate it. In fact, it would help their competition. There would be additional costs involved - a complete inspection first, signal issues, possibly drainage....who knows? Who will pay for that? Also, in today's focus on being a "wholesale" transportation provider which keeps trains moving, I can't see CSX wanting to re-open Lyons as an interchange point. My admittedly uninformed guess is they much prefer having everything move through Dewitt. Whether enough political pressure could be exerted to get everybody on the same page or not, I don't know.
COULD it happen? Yes. WILL it happen? My guess is no. But again, there may be other factors here which I'm not aware of so we'll just have to wait and see.