Amtrak Tie Replacement project

Matt Johnson wrote:When they had these in place at Princeton Junction last year (or was it the year before?) due to tie replacement on the local track, I was surprised to see Acela Express trains still racing through at the normal 135 mph even with the temporary bridges!

I was surprised too till i walked on one, they were pretty solidly wedged into position between the rail and the edge of the platform. I think it's funny how they are still laying all over the place, and what gives with track 2 and 4 not being replaced in trenton, those ties are crumbling apart!

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Bridges are down at Odenton and Bowie State, and track one is back in service from Landover to Grove.

Yesterday was my first day back to work in 5 days. Ran 51 and was happy to see that track 1 is complete from Landover to Bridge (north of West Baltimore) and now they are working on track 2 north of the Union tunnel near Biddle. Was extremly happy to see track 1 reopened and the work at BWI appears to be winding down as well. This has been an extremely long summer with this track project and it appears the worst is behind. I'm hearing the track project is suppose to extend to Gunpow but the MARC traffic isn't as heavy as the Baltimore to DC segment and there is track A to help out as well.

Yep - I've switched jobs and don't ride anymore, but my wife told me that this week they've swapped over and are no longer doing the left handed running in the afternoon, so everything seems to be back to "normal" or what passes for it during the summertime on the NEC. Overall, it sounds like the project went pretty well - the MARC and Amtrak briefed the Rider's Advisory Council on the plans before they got rolling and we were prepared for things to end up being a lot worse than they ended up being.

Eff Aug. 30, Amtrak issued temporary schedules for ACELA EXPRESS trains #2122, #2124 and #2126, which leave Baltimore at 5:30 pm, 6:30 pm and 7:30 pm. Ten minutes was added from BAL to Wilmington. Normally these trains overtake MARC Perryville trains #530, #534 and #538.
Am told that the time was added because TK 3 is out of service for concrete tie replacement between Bush and Grace. This implies that the MARC trains normally use TK 3 (80 MPH) so the ACELA can overtake on TK 2 (125 MPH). Here's what I don't understand - if the MARC's normally used TK 3, which is the center track, wouldn't the passengers need to cross TK 4 or TK 2 to access the station platforms at Edgewood and Aberdeen? If they really cross the tracks, I would think that would be quite dangerous in that territory - especially at Aberdeen where there are curves.
Did I get something wrong here?
Also, I believe the TLM that had been replacing concrete ties on TK 1 north of Bay is now the outfit working in New Jersey between Iselin and Union on TK 1.

Andy

Edgewood is only double track, no track crossing required. Aberdeen is three tracks there is no No 4 track there. If the train offloads on the middle they can use the wooden walkways to get to the platform.

Davis

strench707 wrote:Do you think with this project they will upgrade LANDOVER interlocking so that the 1 Track can be acessed by Amtrak trains before CARROLL interlocking, that way if something ios sitting in NCR they won't have to wait?

Davis

no that wont happen

realtype wrote:

bbunge wrote: Any idea if there are speed restrictions in place when these are set up?
Bob

Nice photos. That's a good question. There probably will be speed restrictions because of the track work, but I'm not sure about the platforms themselves. From this photo at New Brunswick the clearance gap isn't that huge, but I think they're bolted down so the danger of brushing shouldn't be any more than it is for a normal platform.

When I took a midday NJT Express train last year we kept on slowing down and speeding up because of the track work and we arrived at Trenton a few minutes late. They were working on the lower portion of the line then so Princeton Jct. and Hamilton had the temp. platforms.

yes there is a 80mph speed restriction called a slow by. so that the workers on the adjacent track don't get blown off their feet by the high speed trains

strench707 wrote:Edgewood is only double track, no track crossing required. Aberdeen is three tracks there is no No 4 track there. If the train offloads on the middle they can use the wooden walkways to get to the platform.

Davis

Actually you are only partially correct. Aberdeen does have 3 tracks, but it is Track 1 that doesnt exist. The track layout is tracks 2-3-4, not 1-2-3.

lowpost50 wrote:

strench707 wrote:Do you think with this project they will upgrade LANDOVER interlocking so that the 1 Track can be acessed by Amtrak trains before CARROLL interlocking, that way if something ios sitting in NCR they won't have to wait?

Davis

no that wont happen

Cant say that this wont happen as I had a track engineer ride my head end a few months back and in the plans is to replace Landover Interlocking with an interlocking in the straight away called "Hanson" I wrote that down after he told me that. He doesnt know when this will take place. Im just wondering why it would be called Hanson???

US route 50 (which paralells the NEC real close there) is called "the John Hanson Highway".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hanson

Yeah and it crosses over just North of that straightaway.

It would be great if they did this, definitley more flexibility. I guess they picked a good area. It just seems that the farther north you tie in the track the less of it is usable for Amtrak.

Davis

HokieNav wrote:US route 50 (which paralells the NEC real close there) is called "the John Hanson Highway".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hanson

Huh, I learn something new everyday. Thanks for that little tid bit. As mentioned by me, if this is ever done, that will be the name for it. Who knows if Amtrak is planning to do this anytime soon is anyones guess.

To me Landover Interlocking isn't that big of a constraint, sure it has a 100mph speed limit but you're already coming into a curve you have to slow for anyway or are coming out of (dependent on direction). They could still add a switch at Landover (doesn't seem too long-term) which would help if a train was stopped on the NB platform at NCR and they wanted to shoot a train around it. The switch at Carrol does nothing in the way of helping that because its north of NCR.

Davis