Southern Tier - East of Binghamton

I just realized, living up to the sterling reputation of the logic we use in America when doing things...

The excellent rail system at the former Military Ocean Terminal Bayonne was almost entirely ripped out a few years ago, before anyone from the Port Authority thought it would be a decent idea to plan for a foreseeable container boom. Very heavy rail (156 lbs as I recall), good ties, several miles of tangent tracks good for container freight facilities.

Well, at least we can help out some steel workers by ordering new rail to replace what we go rid of.

NS 3rd quarter earnings call. Interesting bit from NS CMO Donald Seale:

And the recently announced tunnel clearances in New Jersey in conjunction
with our PanAm Southern joint venture will provide for new NS double-stack service from the Port of New York to upstate New York and New England.

Full transcript herehttp://seekingalpha.com/article/232846- ... transcript

Dave

"Not the most direct route in the world, but I'd imagine somewhat more direct than the reverse move on the Tier."

No need for a reverse move on the tier. NYS&W installed a direct connection at BD from the WB tier to WB/NB D&H tracks enabling train to run through to the NB D&H. This connection is east of the BD diamond.

I meant to express that the trains would be travelling away from New England via the Tier rather than towards it. Thank you for the information on the connection, though. The local details of railroad trackwork are not my strong point and I always like learning about them.

For not articulating myself clearly, my sincere apologies.

Does anyone have photos of the new signals at CP-SHOHOLA?

Speaking of fNYSW, I saw it reported that NYSW ripped out their Binghamton yards to install a sand transload facility. How much trackage did they remove? I ffind it ludicrous that thery'd rip out the entire yard.

Jim Rowland

I know the gent who runs that transloading operation so I'll ask him later in the day to see what he says.

Off topic, but not really. I'm in San Antonio (actually New Braunfels) (87 deg.) right at this moment and the last couple days of observation regarding single track territory. UP (MKT) safely runs 24 a day between SAT and Austin. Stacks and generals work with each other between 30-40 mph. UP fleets them. Impressive. The East End can do this.

K4, you're getting us EOB folks excited for the chance of fleeting. You really think this is a possibility in the future?

century430 wrote:Speaking of fNYSW, I saw it reported that NYSW ripped out their Binghamton yards to install a sand transload facility. How much trackage did they remove? I ffind it ludicrous that thery'd rip out the entire yard.

Jim Rowland

there were a few pics on the yahoo message about this. it looked like 1 track was ripped up and another shoved over some to make for room. The "Yard" is still there.

I was in Callicoon a few days ago and noticed that the depot has been repainted, the roof repaired, and has had some other improvements. I wish I had pictures to post as it's a really nice improvement.

Well, with this speculation on traffic moving from the NY/NJ port area to New England, I looked up (and in some cases estimated) mileages:

NS:
NJ Port area to Binghamton (Erie): 210 miles
Binghamton to Mechanicville, NY (D&H) 125 miles
Mechanicville to Boston, (Boston and Maine , now Pan Am Southern): 195 miles
TOTAL: 530 miles

CSX:
NJ Port area to Selkirk (West Shore River Line): 135 miles
Selkirk to Boston: (Boston and Albany): 195 miles
Total: 330 miles

Truck: (I-95)
NJ Port Area to Boston: 220 miles

Numbers are approximate, but it seems a tough job for NS. JS

Hopefully someone at NS has done their homework with this new service. It definitely won't be competitive with time on trucking, but since we're talking about import containers, an extra day past the 4+ weeks it generally takes to get here from Asia probably won't matter all that much if the price is right. It would never work with domestic containers.

SecaucusJunction wrote:Hopefully someone at NS has done their homework with this new service. It definitely won't be competitive with time on trucking, but since we're talking about import containers, an extra day past the 4+ weeks it generally takes to get here from Asia probably won't matter all that much if the price is right. It would never work with domestic containers.

Looking at the NS and CSX published on-line schedules for Chicago to Boston area intermodal service lanes (admittedly 2X-3X the NY/NJ to Boston RR mileage) one sees the following:

NS (daily departure and daily pick-up):
Chicago cut-off: Monday 8pm CT
Ayer Availability: Thursday 5AM ET
Elapsed time: 56 hours

CSX Domestic/Int'l COFC (daily departure but pick up at Boston M-F only (note this service isn't offered at Worcester)):
Chicago cut-off: Sunday 6pm CT
Boston Availability: Thursday 5pm ET
Elapsed Time: 85 hours (best case)

CSX Private TOFC/COFC (daily departure but pick up at Saturday M-S only):
Chicago cut-off: 730pm CT
Worcester availability: Tuesday 5pm
Elapsed time: 44.5 hours (best case)

As you suggest, assuming CSX business is successful, leisurely int'l COFC transit times are acceptable. It looks like only private TOFC/COFC is time sensitive. But, having said that NS seems to be successful with its Dometic TOFC/COFC service to Boston running half a day slower than CSX's best time.

Yes, I work with these containers into NJ/NY all day long. A few of them are time sensitive... most aren't. And when you are dealing with ocean containers, your lead time is generally measured in weeks while the ETA and the actual date of arrival may be a week off. In most cases, customers know to stock their inventory to a level where an extra day or so isn't going to hurt them at all. It's mostly about price. In an emergency, a diversion can be made from rail to road (generally for extra $$) and the cargo sent to the destination by a local trucker.