STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 11:59 am
Not really, but take it as a whole with the B&P Replacement. You got tracks that go from 30 to 100 between West Baltimore and Baltimore Penn Station in that project. Add the following:
- Tweaking track alignment to bump speeds to 125 mph.
- Adding a side platform to let MARC trains service the station on track 1 and Regional/Acela trains go through on track 2.
- Adding more tracks and platforms for trains at BAL. Right, track 1 is Light Rail, 2/3 are storage, 4/5 are basically local MARC, and 6/7 are pass-through MARC/Amtrak, and F track for freight bypass. The station rebuild going on now will have 2/3 rebuilt and opened up for MARC, F rebuilt as 8, and 8/9 for Amtrak use.
If I’ve understood your statements correctly, this would produce the following dispatching layout, from south to north:
Light Rail bay platform
Platform 1 - MARC terminators?
Platform 2 - Northbound/eastbound Amtrak/MARC
Platform 3 - Northbound/eastbound Amtrak/MARC
Platform 4 - MARC terminators?
Platform 5 - MARC terminators?
Platform 6 - Westbound/southbound Amtrak/MARC
Platform 7 - Westbound/southbound Amtrak/MARC
Platform 8 - Westbound/southbound Amtrak only?
Platform 9 - Westbound/southbound Amtrak only?
Would the platform on Track 1 be opposite the Light Rail platform, or adjacent to it? The latter could be preferable since it would offer same-platform interchange with the Penn-Camden shuttle services, since there’s no easy way to provide a spur to the ex-Northern Central alignment to allow for through services from Penn Station to Hunt Valley. Making the interchange as easy as possible would probably encourage more use of that shuttle service and it could reduce car use at the station.
I will be interested to see which signal aspects the platforms whose tracks offer the straightest routing through CHARLES and UNION interlockings will be using once the rebuild is in place. I consulted
this online copy of a version of the NORAC signal rules, and it looks like the straightest routes through each interlocking could be given a Rule 283 Medium Clear or a Rule 283a Medium Apprach Medium (does Amtrak use that aspect anywhere in Maryland?).
STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 11:59 am
That way you have MARC trains waiting for passengers be out of the way, you can have Acelas and LD's pass Regionals, and you don't have to creep through the tunnels anymore. What's not to love?
The only thing left to do at that point is to widen the Union Tunnel east of the station to provide space for a fourth track. Then a future project could rearrange the interlockings between the east portal of Union Tunnel and the Gunpowder River and build a southbound side platform at Martin State Airport, and allow through Amtrak services to be dispatched on Tracks 1 and 2, clear of the MARC services.