Canadian Pacific yard expansion plan

[mtuandrew]

Whew, that is major. From http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_ ... d-fill-six" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, the original article:

Canadian Pacific Railway has proposed a major expansion of its receiving yard to the north and east of Pig's Eye Lake in St. Paul, with the ultimate goal of accommodating 10,000-foot trains by mid-2015.

The project, which is sure to raise eyebrows with neighbors and naturalists, would fill in 6 acres of wetlands along the northern and eastern shoreland areas of the lake.

Pretty sure this isn't an April Fools joke either - CP Rail is quite constrained with train sizes through the Cities, even before the oil from North Dakota and Saskatchewan.

[JayBee]

Minor nitpick with the original newspaper story. The receiving yard is to the South and East, not the North and East. The is no room whatsoever to the north.

[mtuandrew]

Minor nitpick with the original newspaper story. The receiving yard is to the South and East, not the North and East. The is no room whatsoever to the north.

I think it's to the south and east of the yard, but on the northeast side of the lake - more or less here.

[JayBee]

After looking at the aerial views on Google Earth, the best description would be on the East side of Pig's Eye lake, as Dunn Interlocking, is just south of the south end of Pig's Eye Lake, and if they extend the yard tracks by 3k feet then they will end well south of the lake.

Separately, the Oil Trains aren't the length problem as even the common 108 car length, plus buffers and locomotives are under 6500 ft. All the bulk trains tend to be shorter and heavy, it's the Intermodals, and the Manifest trains that cause the length problems. Having a CP Eastbound manifest stop clear of Dunn or Red Rock Interlocking and then shove back into the Receiving Yard kills track capacity on the Joint Line, especially if it has to cut off part of its consist because it is too long for the yard track.