Railroad Forums
Moderators: GOLDEN-ARM, cjl330, mikec
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.
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.
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.
lensovet 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.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?
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.
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!