Railroad Revival Heading For Port (New Haven, CT)

[Jeff Smith]

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/inde ... t/id_45410

Gulf Oil may be able to trade some of its gas-guzzling trucks for train cars by the end of 2013, as the state moves forward with a plan to curb highway traffic by extending rail lines to the harbor’s shipping docks.

Judith Sheiffele, executive director of the New Haven Port Authority, said the city has long sought to connect rail lines to the harborside shipping terminals as part of a larger plan to revitalize the port. A first phase of the project was completed in 2006, bringing train tracks across Forbes Avenue and alongside Waterfront Street, through the heart of the city’s port district, and to the doorstep of Logistec, which welcomed the chance to send heavy steel coils by rail. In 2009, a southern spur was installed.

...

However, the new rail lines have been used only twice since their installation, according to Sheiffele.

Four companies in the port still can’t easily access the new tracks—they’re waiting for the final phase of the project, which would run rail spurs directly across Waterfront Street into their terminals. The work should cost about $2 million, paid for by a federal grant that aims to improve air quality and alleviate traffic congestion, Sheiffele said.

...

The port had functioning train tracks until the 1990s, Sheiffele said. They ran right down the middle of Waterfront Street, in the lane of traffic. Two factors contributed to their demise: The state redid the Tomlinson Bridge, shifting the tracks to the northern side of the bridge. And federal regulations prohibited trains from sharing a travel lane with motor vehicles.

Sounds like a missed opportunity for some good street running.

[DutchRailnut]

Oil products shipped by rail take to long, and loose to much in money due to rate changes.
A truck from New Haven to say Harford takes an hour, a rail car at least a day or more.

[TOMT7X]

But at least, its more comfortable to get the trucks off highways.. Just like what Gulf Oil stated, their fleets (trucks) consumes more fuel when delivery from one terminal to the other. Rail is more efficient that way if you have like 30 tank cars, in which one tank car is 5 times more than a tank truck trailer. And, how much are you thinking to save more fuel with one train and 400,000 tank trucks running back and fourth from I-95's Jersey's Chemical Coast to New Haven, even beating the hell out of I-91 across Hartford? (boy those damn potholes!!!) ? Yet, you still can use trucks for local deliveries to Gulf gas stations, as thats the understandable part. Gulf Oil is trying to cut corners on spending money to stop acquiring more and more fleet trucks..

Unit ethanol trains for Gulf Oil as a blender with fuel arriving by ship.. P&W? No problem.. P&W and Motiva in Providence has been in very close relations. When Motiva gets notified by P&W that their ethanol has arrived either NECR or CSX, they get right to work..I am sure Gulf would do the same thing.. What has happened in the past, its the past, as it was all Conrail.. This is a new railroad, with a lot of changes, and contractual revisions and such, it will get better. (even NR2 bringing 30-40 gondola loads of aluminum billets on Mondays for New Haven, very timely...)

So, more work for P&W road jobs, thats a plus.. Plus if this were to happen, more carloadings will rise on the Norwich Branch, P&W will may set up new dedicated trains from Worcester to New Haven and return, depending on how traffic goes. NR2 will still be a local just doing some work with customers along the Shore Line.. There are many ways with P&W to get their loads.. They have improved relations with interchanging with CP/VTR/NECR at Bellows Falls and Willimantic (its considerably growing over 20-30 car cuts almost daily, including stacks and autoracks) and NS/PAS at Gardner.. more racks and general freight and CSX.

[CREEPING DEATH]

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/inde ... t/id_45410

And federal regulations prohibited trains from sharing a travel lane with motor vehicles.

Sounds like a missed opportunity for some good street running.

Not to miss up this thread, but can anybody cite this? It's the fisrt that I'm hearing of it, and there are still tracks here in Houston that're used regularly right down the middle of a street.

CD

[RS115]

I would not cite RR.Net as the source of your argument. Research and cite the actual federal regulation - if there is in fact such a regulation. Street running still exists in a number of spots nationwide, so this is likely a 'shorthand' quote for something that is complicated (like new regs applying to new situations) or (never happened before) a public official being quoted with information that's not quite right.

[Jeff Smith]

Clarification: I was quoting the story. News sources are also not always accurate. I thought the quote was hinky as well, but figured our knowledgable members would correct. It may be that a lot of the street running that occurs these days is "grand-fathered", and that any rebuilds, etc. may have to conform to current regs and standards.

[kitn1mcc]

also the tracks are unusable at this time due to the new bridge being built

[Mr rt]

What is sad is that P&W didn't get even a smell of all the materials that came in to build that new bridge

[freightguy]

Happens as a daily occurence in Brooklyn, NY with the street running operation of NYNJ Rail. At one point this included U.N. 1075 propane cars sharing 1st Avenue with an endless stream of passenger and commercial auto traffic. I sincerely doubt they can restrict interstate commerce like that. If New York okays it, I would be suprised the Conn gov't would want to prohibit a pontential job creator like this project....

[newpylong]

Oil products shipped by rail take to long, and loose to much in money due to rate changes.
A truck from New Haven to say Harford takes an hour, a rail car at least a day or more.

a) they do not. The shippers and carriers set the schedule. If it "took too long" the carrier wouldn't have the business to begin with. We're not talking UPS parcels here.

b) Why would anyone ever ship a railcar from New Haven to Hartford? That is less than 40 miles... a very poor comparison. The railroad would make their money sending unit trains, or blocks of cars from the Port to distribution centers further away.

[DutchRailnut]

except anyone who takes more that a certain amount of oil product is part of pipeline and never more than hour from pipeline hub..

[ccutler]

there's likely more to the story. But it would be nice to see if it works for a short distance because it may signal to other oil companies and rail lines to try it as well. If they ship it in bulk on a bi-weekly basis for instance, they could probably make money on it. I would expect that most of the pricing is for switching charges.

And traffic going up I-91 is hell, especially in New Haven, which would drive up costs as well as liability insurance. Oil trucks around frustrated drivers=bad risk.

[danburybranch]

You guys are missing the point. They aren't talking about shipping oil out by rail, they want to ship ethanol in to mix with the oil. I imagine the end product will be shipped out via truck for distribution.

[Ridgefielder]

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/inde ... t/id_45410

And federal regulations prohibited trains from sharing a travel lane with motor vehicles.

Sounds like a missed opportunity for some good street running.

Not to miss up this thread, but can anybody cite this? It's the fisrt that I'm hearing of it, and there are still tracks here in Houston that're used regularly right down the middle of a street.

CD

I wonder if the regulation might have something to do with trains sharing travel lanes with vehicles on a bridge as was the case with the old Tomlinson.

[Jeff Smith]

http://nhregister.com/articles/2012/06/ ... 869294.txt

NEW HAVEN — The plan to tear up Waterfront Street and install new rail lines is under way, according to the state Department of Transportation, which announced this week it found a low bidder for the project.

...

Judith Sheiffele, executive director of the New Haven Port Authority, explained that the city’s port had working rail lines until the Tomlinson Bridge was redone and regulations mandated trains and motor vehicles could not share a travel lane. So the businesses that could thrive off of train tracks were stuck using trucks to transport their materials.

The plans for the rail line project were submitted to the DOT in 2008, but at the time, the state didn’t have funding to complete the project. In March, the state finally announced that the project, which they are overseeing, was going out to bid. The cost for the road construction will be approximately $3.9 million, according to Nursick.

...

The rail spurs will link four business to the main line, including Gulf, Magellan and Gateway terminals, as well as the north gate of the New Haven Terminal. The New Haven terminal already has a spur, but Sheiffele said the new spur could lead to a biofuel plant.

...

Providence and Worcester Railroad Co. will install the spurs up to the property lines of the businesses and then the businesses are responsible for completing them. The rail line installation will cost another $1.5 million on top of the road reconstruction cost, according to Nursick. Both parts of the project are funded with about 90 percent federal dollars and 10 percent state money.