Portland Waterfront Rail Ops (Yard 8, Intermodal, etc)

I am just having a hard time wrapping my arms around what issue they are trying to solve. Same for any "inter-city" passenger service in Maine.

The issue is that people see disused railroad tracks in their town and think that entitles them to passenger rail service, and when that service doesn't materialize, they think their town is being deliberately ignored in favor of the other towns/cities that have passenger rail service.

I've seen and heard it in the comments/statements from politicians and residents over the past 20 years — statements like "it's not fair that Portland has passenger trains and [random small town] doesn't," "our town has tracks, why can't we have a train," "we deserve to have the same things Portland has," etc.

In many cases it really is as petty and juvenile as that. They prove how uninformed they are when they try to make a point by saying, for example, "Wells has a population of 11,000 and they get a passenger train; we have a population of 18,000 and we don't get a passenger train. How is that fair?" — totally oblivious to the fact that Wells is located on the mainline to Boston (so Portland-Boston trains are already passing through), whereas their town is located on an abandoned branch that would cost $200 million to rebuild... to say nothing of the fact that Wells is a huge tourist destination and their town isn't. They see some rusty hundred-year-old 85 lb rails sitting on top of sawdust ties with date nails from before WWII and cinder ballast, and they think the service should magically appear within a year because they demanded it.

The MaineDoT's 2022-2024 workplan includes a total of $1.3 million for three separate workplan items related to the intermodal ramp at the IMT:

• Freight -Intermodal Freight Facility -Demolition/Removal : $850,000

• Freight - Intermodal Freight Facility -New Construction - PE Only : $100,000

• Freight - Intermodal Freight Facility - Rehabilitation: $300,000

It seems like the state planning to rebuild or partially rebuild the yard 8 intermodal ramp.

This workplan also includes $3 million for "multimodal improvements" at the Merrill Terminal and funding to demolish the Cassidy Point Bridge

I wonder if they actually have traffic planned this time (especially with CSX planning to put a ramp in right down the road) or are just going to spend the money?

Has anyone heard anything about the cold storage facility? They had the ceremonial groundbreaking but there's nothing at all visible from areas I could look from (i.e., the driveway).

And I'd REALLY be interested in knowing the details behind that MDOT workplan. Demo PLUS New Construction engineering PLUS rehab? It could be that they are redesigning the cold storage for direct rail access after all.

BandA wrote: ↑Fri Aug 12, 2022 2:12 pm Oh no. That's what happens when you shut down a rail line. Can't call them New England Baked Beans anymore. Could partially explain the recent 50% price increase. Are they replicating the Brick Ovens in the midwest factories?

I don't think so... i you look closely, where the small text in the B&M oval formerly read "Brick Oven Baked", the cans from away say "A New England Tradition."

markhb wrote: ↑Thu Oct 20, 2022 2:05 pm Has anyone heard anything about the cold storage facility? They had the ceremonial groundbreaking but there's nothing at all visible from areas I could look from (i.e., the driveway).

And I'd REALLY be interested in knowing the details behind that MDOT workplan. Demo PLUS New Construction engineering PLUS rehab? It could be that they are redesigning the cold storage for direct rail access after all.

Doesn't look like it: https://multifiles.pressherald.com/uplo ... s.1023.jpg

Would have to load it on truck first...

Drove by yesterday on the way to a hockey game and was surprised to see at least a dozen bulkhead flats in the "intermodal" yard loaded with steel being, I presume, unloaded. Glad to see they found some sort of use for all the money sunk into re-configuring it.

Eric

I, too, drove by yesterday and saw the same loaded cars. I was surprised to see them, and I wonder where they're headed.

I suspect the steel was intended for the Cold Storage facility being built right next door. Construction has finally gotten underway.

As unrealistic as it may be, It would be cool if the Yard 8 ramp could end up being used for some kind of other non-containerized transloading on a regular basis.

I have to wonder, would the ramp have been respectably useful if they had had the entire Yard 8 property to work with (i.e., no, or a much smaller, PYS, and no snow dump, so they could have an uninterrupted run nearly back to Cassidy Point Drive), or was the property just too small regardless? And what did Eimskip initially think they were going to get for onsite rail access?

If Yard 8 was converted into an intermodel yard,instead of being sold,It would have been a good size terminal.At least 3 or 4 tracks up to 4500 feet long or more.

There is a plan to re-do the port intermodal yard further down into the Port but for now it is just a plan (MPA one).

CSX has no plan to make an intermodal facility at Yard 8. It would be a terrible spot considering all the land they own adjacent to Rigby. The 95/295 connector is right there at Rigby and that area already gets considerable truck traffic.

Loosely related to that subject... CSX is currently doing track work on their line that connects with the Turners Island Railroad in South Portland. I don't know when the work began but I've observed it happening every day this week.

Any chance they’ll keep using the Yard 8 facilities for transloading like they did with the steel? Feels like a pretty solid place for it, being just down the road from the waterfront and all.