Hoosac Tunnel Discussion & News

[R&PEditor]

Does PanAm even have the money to fix the tunnel properly? It is quite clear that they did no preventive maintenance at all. Is NS likely to chip in for the repair? If not, I imagine MassDOT will eventually pay, but with all the bureaucracy it will be a while before anything happens and the temporary routing would last months if not years.

I don't think its fair or accurate to say that PAS has "done no preventive maintenance at all." The west end of the tunnel is little more than a brick tube laying in mud, and more than a century old. Add to that the uncertainty of major modification for clearance, and you have a strong impetus to not fix what ain't broke -- until it breaks.

What's clear is that PAR, NS, and the state all have an interest in upgrading the tunnel for safety and capacity reasons. Do they fix just enough to open the tunnel now, with the idea of raising the roof in the near future? Or do they do a long-lasting patch, like when they inserted a concrete arch in the 1970s?

[Plate C]

I was unclear, are the rerouted trains entering ED from the east or west end?

[newpylong]

You fix it fast and open the tunnel with an aim for a long term fix in the future. Every day that they are rerouting they are losing money.

[newpylong]

West end, from the Conn River line.

[GP40MC1118]

23/22K are detouring over CSX to Worcester.

Other stuff via Vermont.

Understand there are 99 auto racks stored up in Buckland.

[MEC407]

From the Greenfield Recorder:

[Cynthia Scarano] said that on Tuesday evening, the tunnel “experienced a failure in a small portion of the brick liner near the West Portal through which a pile of debris fell onto the tracks.”

Rail traffic through the tunnel was stopped immediately, Scarano said.

“The soil material continued to fall through the hole in the liner over the next few days, further blocking the tunnel,” Scarano added via email. “The material has currently ceased falling and self-stabilized. The portions of the tunnel liner in the vicinity of the failure location are being assessed for their viability and strengthened as necessary to create a safe working environment.”

Once that is completed, Scarano said, “the material will then be removed from the tunnel, the liner repaired and voids in the soil behind the liner filled with grout. It is still unclear at this time how long this process will take to complete, but crews will be working around the clock to reopen the tunnel until trains can resume operations through it.”

Read more at: https://www.recorder.com/a1-hoosac-tunn ... Y-32695841

[roberttosh]

Must be a real nightmare working in such a confined, inaccessible space under those conditions. This obviously isn’t the first time a tunnel has suffered this type of cave in, but still, the logistics involved in getting it repaired must be monumental.

[nomis]

http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en ... ption.html

The newest NS service alert dated Feb. 16th has Sat. 2/22 for an reopening date.

Norfolk Southern’s partner, Pan Am Railways, has reported a partial wall collapse in the Hoosac Tunnel which affects all trains operating between Mechanicsville, New York, and Ayer, Massachusetts. Pan Am Railway’s engineering department has evaluated the damage and is actively working on repairs. The line is expected to reopen Saturday, Feb. 22. There are limited opportunities for detours. Customers with traffic moving through this area should expect delays through next week.

[Hux]

Be interesting to know the process used to repair the lining.

[Safetee]

Duck tape

[Plate C]

Not familiar w/ the process, how does rerouting work as far as coordination w/ other RRs? For example, is CSX accomodating PAR traffic as a standard courtesy, is there any obligation to do so, or are they able to reroute because PAR already has working relationships w/ the other RRs at interchanges and such?

[KSmitty]

The other railroads charge for the service. CSX is using their crews to move the trains, so I assume PAS is paying close to market rate for the service.

I believe VRS is piloting ST crews over their railroad, so PAS is paying a lower rate as they provide both the manpower and horsepower to move the trains. However, they still have to cover the cost of 1 VRS employee to act as a pilot, and I'm sure VRS is charging something ontop of that, as well as some fees for useage of the property to cover maintenance and other operating considerations.

These options are available because these railroads all have working relationships with each other. It's not like a mutual aid agreement between local fire departments, its not obligatory, and if for example the B&A was as busy as it used to be you would likely see some limits on what CSX would take. But they have the crews and the line capacity to take an extra train each way so they take the business and make some money off another railroads customers. If VRS and CSX pick up slack (and make some money in the process) then NS and/or Pan Am will likely be willing to reciprocate when something hits the fan on their properties and help (at a cost) will be more readily available to them.

[newpylong]

Update: the cave in got worse and was even daylighting. There is also 5 feet of water in the tunnel now in that area backed up towards center shaft. The source was traced to the Tunnel Brook about 400 ft in from West Portal above. They've had to reroute the brook above, once the material is moved and the roof repaired they'll have to fill it back in from above. Crazy. Considering how much water has always been coming in there for the past 100 years this didn't just start...

[Backshophoss]

This is not going to be a quick fix,the underground stream needs to be rerouted away from the tunnel.
Seems to date back to when the tunnel was built.
Might be "cheaper" to Daylight the tunnel

[jaymac]

Per NS Service Alert viewed 0520/02-17-2020. Saturday 02-22 is now the estimated service restoration.