BALTIMORE — CSX Transportation CEO James Foote on Monday joined Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in officially seeking federal funding for the $466 million Howard Street Tunnel clearance project. Hogan’s office announced that it submitted an ap...
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2019/03/05-csx-and-maryland-seek-federal-funding-for-howard-street-tunnel-clearance-project
Brian Schmidt, Editor, Classic Trains magazine
Port of Baltimore has invested in dredging and container cranes for post-Panamax container ships - without a double stack route out of Baltimore that will be a wasted investment.
https://www.progressiverailroading.com/csx_transportation/news/Maryland-seeks-federal-grant-to-fund-Howard-Street-Tunnel-project--56931
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Question for BALT. Will this allow for double stacks from the SE to Albany or other clearance projects still needed for full double stacks? The Virginia Avenue double track double stack project is one more step for double stacks up and down east coast.
blue streak 1Question for BALT. Will this allow for double stacks from the SE to Albany or other clearance projects still needed for full double stacks? The Virginia Avenue double track double stack project is one more step for double stacks up and down east coast.
There is Boone Tunnel (RR) West of Philadelphia that at present won't clear autoracks let alone double stacks. I am not aware of any plans to upgrade it to handle 20' 2" stacks - I have no idea of any clearance restrictions between Philadelphia and Selkirk.
If enlarging Boone is nothing more than a notching job it won't be a big deal - HOWEVER, if it is more involved then it will be anybodys guess. I have no idea how much if any traffic could be attracted with DS clearance over the entire route.
When I was working there was very little IM traffic North (RR East) of Philadelphia - and the I-95 corridor trains (Q031, Q032, Q034) would only have a handful of cars into and out of Philadelphia.
CSX has a clearance map on it's website to show which routes are cleared for auto-racks & doublestacks. IDK where my copy is at the moment.
I think the Howard Street tunnel is needed to try to have the Port of Baltimore compete for double stack business in to the heartland along the CSX Gateway Corridor that was recently cleared for doublestacks from Norfolk through DC thence west on the former B&O.
What will be interesting is whether it will actually make a difference for the Port of Baltimore because there is significant sailing time up Cheasapeake Bay and back down, and any container ship passes right by Norfolk on the way to Baltimore. Perhaps they are counting on Norfolk maxing our its capacity at some point. Or perhaps there is another reason that Baltimore could compete with Norfolk. Basically, on the East Coast it is NY-NJ, Norfolk and Savannah that are the ”Big Kahunas” far as container ports go. There are others, of course, but they all have lesser volumes than those three.
kgbw49I think the Howard Street tunnel is needed to try to have the Port of Baltimore compete for double stack business in to the heartland along the CSX Gateway Corridor that was recently cleared for doublestacks from Norfolk through DC thence west on the former B&O. What will be interesting is whether it will actually make a difference for the Port of Baltimore because there is significant sailing time up Cheasapeake Bay and back down, and any container ship passes right by Norfolk on the way to Baltimore. Perhaps they are counting on Norfolk maxing our its capacity at some point. Or perhaps there is another reason that Baltimore could compete with Norfolk. Basically, on the East Coast it is NY-NJ, Norfolk and Savannah that are the ”Big Kahunas” far as container ports go. There are others, of course, but they all have lesser volumes than those three.
Not all ports on the East Coast made the necessary capital investments in dredging and container cranes to be in a position to handle the so called Post PanaMax container ships. Baltimore is among the ports that made that investment. I believe New York also did - I am not aware of other East Coast ports that did, although some others may have.
Presuming that Howard Street Tunnel becomes double stack ready, stack trains to the West will be able to operate either via DC or the Old Main Line to Point of Rocks. From a Train Dispatchers point of view, both routes constitute a Three Track operating corridor.
Makes sense, Balt. Offloading containers for the Midwest there and sending them over Sand Patch is probably faster than offloading them in New Jersey and sending them roundabout up the single-track West Side River Line and through Selkirk and Buffalo.
Isn’t CSX still double track from Baltimore all way to Chicago?
Whilst watching the Deshler railcam, we'll often see some stack trains that the regulars will refer to as Baltimore trains, as they're all singled.
A good many trains touch base in North Baltimore. I presume that those will either head due east or turn north at some point for Buffalo and points east.
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kgbw49Makes sense, Balt. Offloading containers for the Midwest there and sending them over Sand Patch is probably faster than offloading them in New Jersey and sending them roundabout up the single-track West Side River Line and through Selkirk and Buffalo. Isn’t CSX still double track from Baltimore all way to Chicago?
All except for a 2.7 mile segment between control points Pinkerton and Fort Hill on the West side of the Sand Patch grade, where the track is built on a ledge on the side of a mountain - it has been this way 'forever'. This never developed to be much of a choke point during my 20 years of supervising the territory.
Baltimore has the advantage of being north (and east) of the rail and highway congestion around DC, and CSX doesn't have another good SW - NE route off to the west as NS does. Plus, once at Baltimore it's a good shot on CSX to PHL and Newark/ NYC - except for the tunnel that BaltACD mentioned above.
Boone Tunnel is just NE of Sharon Hill and Curtis Park, at these Lat./ Long. coords. - N 39.91409 W 75.26552 - and is only ~750 ft. long. Although it appears it may involve purchase and removal of about a dozen twin-type houses, a used-car business, and raising US 13 (4 lanes), I would not be surprised if that's set for enlarging or removal in the next 5 - 10 years, esp. if Pennsylvania kicks in some $ from its Rail Freight Assistance Program. An order of magnitude estimate would be in the $50 - $100MM range, maybe less.
- PDN.
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