Pan Am Southern / Patriot Corridor Discussion

So unless NS takes over PAS, a completion year of 2050?

Maybe not, as they likely won't be paying for it

Bumping this thread...

Q: As of September 2020, how many, if any, of the FRA compiled list of 23 identified double stack clearance projects along the Patriot Corridor have been completed?

Pownal, VT Hoosick River Bridge Truss Modifications
Williamstown, MA Route 7 (Simonds Road) Track Undercut
North Adams, MA Appalachian Trail (Pedestrian Bridge) Bridge Modifications
North Adams, MA Little Tunnel Track Undercut
North Adams, MA Furnace Street (Pedestrian Bridge) Track Undercut
North Adams, MA State Street (Route 8) Track Undercut
North Adams, MA Hoosic River Truss Modify Bridge Deck/Floor Beams
Florida, MA Hoosac Tunnel Track Cut/Crown Raise
Greenfield, MA Conn River RR / PAR ML Track Undercut
Montague, MA Northfield Road Track Undercut
Montague, MA NECR (CV) Railroad Track Undercut
Montague, MA Bridge Street Truss (AKA Hill Street) Track Undercut
Orange, MA South Main Street Bridge Deck Replacement
Orange, MA Brookside Road (AKA Athol Street) Bridge Replacement
Athol, MA Main Street (Route 2A) Track Cut/Bridge Mod
Athol, MA Chestnut Hill Avenue Track Shifts/Bridge Reconstruction
Templeton, MA Main Street (AKA Depot Road) Track Undercut
Gardner, MA Jackson Street (AKA Pleasant Street) Track Undercut
Fitchburg, MA Rollstone Street Track Undercut
Fitchburg, MA Putnam Street Track Cut/Bridge Mod
Fitchburg, MA Water Street Track Cut/Bridge Mod
Leominster, MA Harvard Street Track Undercut
Ayer, MA Main Street (Route 2A) Track Undercut

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/about ... ve-project

Bumping thread: NS temporarily "metering" container traffic bound for Mechanicville and Ayer IM pads. Given the parking lot PAS has become, i understand why Ayer traffic might be metered but I don’t get why Mechanicville containers should be restricted except that PAS operates the facility.

Sep 29, 2021

Due to a backlog of inbound traffic on the PanAm Southern, effective 00:01 local time tomorrow, Thursday, September 30th, NS will restrict ingates at Chicago 47th for all shipments billed locally to Albany & Ayer.

http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en ... -ayer.html

johnpbarlow wrote: ↑Mon Sep 21, 2020 4:23 am Q: As of September 2020, how many, if any, of the FRA compiled list of 23 identified double stack clearance projects along the Patriot Corridor have been completed?
...
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/about ... ve-project

The Fall 2020/Winter 2021 fact sheet found at the link posted tells us at the bottom of page 2 that the next step is to complete environmental review and no funding has been identified for design or construction.

Given it's been about 9 months since then, nothing was designed and the wildcard of the CSX purchase has come into play in that time, the answer is very likely none.

Good tonnage out of EDFLD today.

RJAY took 115 out of EDFLD.
ED8 took 92 out of EDFLD.
EDPO took 91 out of EDFLD.

RJAY stalled at Royalston.

"An embargo has been issued for traffic destined to Deerfield, MA on the PanAM Railway and will take effect Tuesday, December 21, 2021. NS continues to work with the PanAM Railway to restore normal interchange as soon as possible. Customers with critical service needs should contact NS Customer Service."

More reductions in service:

Per the latest NS Intermodal schedule spreadsheet, 22K departs daily from 47th St Chicago for Taylor Yd (via H97) but carries Ayer containers only on Tues, Thurs, Sat, and Sun and Mechanicville containers only on Mon, Wed, and Fri.

During a critical shipping time...talk about handing it to CSX on a silver platter.

Is the embargo due to the crew shortage?

That would be my guess. Unsure on the dropping of daily service if that's crew or PSR related.

Is this info posted anywhere? Doesn't seem to be on the NS website.

This just in via NS on-line Shipping News & Alerts:

Ayer, MA Congestion – Update
Mar 02, 2022


Effective immediately, the embargo on interline gate activity for units billed from Southern California to Ayer, MA has been lifted....

I had no idea there was measurable COFC traffic from SoCal to Ayer! Must be why 22K gets so much UP and BNSF power assigned to it between 47th St Chicago and Binghamton!

http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en ... pdate.html

Ayer-bound NS/PAS IM train 22K-21 passed the Elkhart live cam at around 5AM Friday 4/22/22 with the standard consist of Taylor double stacks + Ayer singles (only ~45 wells today) + Mechanicville doubles followed by a rarely observed string of seven 5-pack well cars filled with double-stacked removeable top international containers (mostly Maersk) of the type used in hauling southern New England trash out of the Arrowhead facility at Ayer. Presumably these well cars will follow the Ayer singles to Ayer in the next couple of days.

As of the first week in May 2022, eyeball observations from the Elkhart IN live rail cam suggest NS has reverted 22K to every other day service for Ayer. The consists of 22K-02, 22K-04, and 22-06 were seen at Elkhart with 10-22 double stacked wells for Taylor followed by single stacked wells or spines with 87 to 97 containers presumably bound for Ayer. And 22K-03 and 22K-05 had only Taylor and Mechanicville containers (mostly double stacked but many containers were on spines).

And on Friday 5/6/22, 23K passed west through Elkhart with 31 double stacked Taylors, 97 Ayer singles, and no obvious Mechanicvilles.

Note that the NS intermodal schedules web site indicates that Ayer and Mechanicville still receive daily 22K service.

For the past couple of weeks, 22K has been averaging between 40 to 75 containers per day destined for Ayer. If these containers were double stacked, it would yield about a 2,500 foot long consist. In my limited observations, something like 10-20 auto racks go to Sanvel each day. This suggests that if 22K was running double-stacked with Sanvel autos on the CSX Boston line today, its consist length would be no more than 4,500 feet if it ran daily, or about half the 9,000 foot max train length that NS trackage rights over CSX term sheet permits.

One thing to consider is that even with full DS clearance, it is unlikely that every container will be double stacked. CSX still runs lots of singles on the B&A, so there must be a reason why not every container is double stacked, such as not having enough well cars available.

Understood about spines being in many double stacked IM consists. CSX uses a lot of them on their two daily B&A IM train pairs to haul UPS and other shippers’ TOFC (a mode that NS/PAS choose not to pursue). I’m just questioning if NS really has enough container/auto traffic to warrant running a direct double stack train pair between Binghamton and Ayer bypassing Mechanicville. If NS decides traffic is insufficient to run doubles over CSX, then it can just put CSX trackage rights on the back burner and keep doing what it’s doing!