by taracer
roberttosh wrote: ↑Sat Jul 24, 2021 1:23 pm Again, if Conrail was able to accommodate 12 or more additional long, slow moving freight trains and 2 pairs of inland route Amtrak trains over a single track railroad, then how many passenger trains will need to be added before they run out of capacity on what will likely be a fully double tracked line between Worcester and Springfield? Pre-PSR wasn't the double track Chicago line handling 8-10 Amtrak trains and 50+ freights per day?Long and heavy is debatable. A "big" train back then may be around 7000 tons. We are double that now, regular 180 car 15,000 ton 10,000 feet plus mixed freight trains. Q020, the main van train, gets to 14500 feet. Q022 is much smaller but that's because its in a long pool from Dewit and they won't make it if it was bigger.
I know I've been around since shortly after CSX took over Conrail, and while it is true that there were more trains, alot of them were also short and fast van trains. Or second sections of other trains. These trains could make track speed over the single track sections, so hold time was minimal. There was also a robust crew base so they could quickly recrew any train that outlawed. I can assure you none of these points are the case today. The east end B&A crew base was decimated after the closure of Beacon Park. Selkirk based crew were heavily cut as well.
They would have to roll PSR back to be able to run the way they did 15-20 years ago. Do you really think they are going to do that?