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Amtrak to Replace Concrete Ties will Result in Minor Schedule Changes for NEC


Bdwy Line C/R

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Beginning April 19, 2009, Amtrak will continue a necessary long-term project to replace concrete railroad ties on the Northeast Corridor. The affected ties are showing premature signs of wear, resulting in speed restrictions for NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak trains.

This year, Amtrak plans to replace ties on 22 miles of track between Newark and New Brunswick. All work will take place on Tracks 2 and 3, the inner “express” tracks, and is expected to continue through November.

While this year’s work is not expectedto have as great an impact as last year, Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line customers should be aware of the following:

To accommodate the tie-replacement work, one track between Newark and New Brunswick will be taken out of service for several months. All NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak trains will share the remaining tracks, which will result in slightly longer trip times for some Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast Line customers.

New schedules will take effect April 19, 2009. Many morning peak trains will be adjusted by 1-6 minutes and afternoon/evening peak trains will be adjusted by 1-3 minutes.

While special boarding procedures will not be required this year, having one track out of service may limit our ability to work around operational problems on the railroad. For example, a disabled train in the work zone will have a greater impact on operations thanit would elsewhere on the system.

North Jersey Coast Line customers who board outbound trains at Newark Penn Station should be aware of possible track changes. Please check departure monitors.

 

We invite you to participate in a live webchat at noon Wednesday, April 15, 2009, hosted by Bill Duggan, our Vice President of Rail Operations. Bill will be available to answer any questions you may have about this or any other rail service matter.

Please be assured that NJ TRANSIT and Amtrak will work cooperatively to minimize delays during this project. We apologize for any inconvenience and thank you for your continued understanding. For the latest service information, sign up for My Transit Alerts at njtransit.com.

(NJT) :nec: :septa:

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They finished way early last year. Been wondering when they would pull the tracks OOS to fix the ties on this segment. There are just too many temp ties and the speed restrictions ugh. I was on an amtrak train that slowed down on 3 spots here, so i can't wait to avoid that nonsense once the project is done.

 

Good thing there are quite a few interlocking options in case something does happen, i just hope it doesnt happen that the local track on the side of the exp track being worked on is obstructed, that would cause some really serious issues. 2 express tracks out, not so much, but if you take the local track out with the express out too, you gotta hold up everything, do the walk across low level deal, which takes so much longer.

 

I guess all we can do is hope that nothing comes up while this is fixed!

 

- A

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They seriously need to replace those switches with concrete ties as well as that section of wooden ties between Metuchen Yard and Metropark. I can't stand the noises from those bolted rails as Silver Meteors roar by.

 

I have seen concrete tie switch panels recently at the one MOW yard near jersey ave....

 

I think they are going to be replacing concrete ties only though this time, however it is a possibility that they will take up the wooden ones too.

 

I guess we will see what happens. They have enough new ties piled to do the whole stretch, plus i have seen a lot of new CWR laying along various spots in the last 3 weeks.

 

- A

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I have seen concrete tie switch panels recently at the one MOW yard near jersey ave....

 

I think they are going to be replacing concrete ties only though this time, however it is a possibility that they will take up the wooden ones too.

 

I guess we will see what happens. They have enough new ties piled to do the whole stretch, plus i have seen a lot of new CWR laying along various spots in the last 3 weeks.

 

- A

 

Thats for Union Interlocking. They started doing work there again recently. I don't know what they plan on doing in Metuchen will have to wait and see, I will say that I'm sure Conrail would not be to pleased if the interlocking was OOS as it would interfere with daily operations for them but IMHO tough s*** its Amtrak's railroad.

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Thats for Union Interlocking. They started doing work there again recently. I don't know what they plan on doing in Metuchen will have to wait and see, I will say that I'm sure Conrail would not be to pleased if the interlocking was OOS as it would interfere with daily operations for them but IMHO tough s*** its Amtrak's railroad.

 

One interlocking out of service for a bit is nothing compared to what they had to deal with when they took over PC. I'm sure their customers will have a few days delay, worth it i think.

 

- A

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One interlocking out of service for a bit is nothing compared to what they had to deal with when they took over PC. I'm sure their customers will have a few days delay, worth it i think.

 

- A

 

For Conrail not delivering on time is a crucial thing, I know that they have to deliver by a specific date or else they get penalized in a few ways. I'm sure though that CSAO would notify their customers and deliver more loads ahead of time, thats what they do around here when they have planned track work.

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For Conrail not delivering on time is a crucial thing, I know that they have to deliver by a specific date or else they get penalized in a few ways. I'm sure though that CSAO would notify their customers and deliver more loads ahead of time, thats what they do around here when they have planned track work.

 

That's what i was thinking too.

 

- A

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Like I said before, the FRA is too lenient on freight trains. That's why America can never increase the NEC speed limit.

 

No their not. Look up all the the FRA regulations. The NEC speed limit cannot be increased because of a few things one of which is freight interference but, try getting tier 2 complaint trains first. An HHP-8 cannont pull a string of Amfleet at no more than 125 due to FRA rules with couplers. Freight trains are what keeps the rails going in this country!

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No their not. Look up all the the FRA regulations. The NEC speed limit cannot be increased because of a few things one of which is freight interference but, try getting tier 2 complaint trains first. An HHP-8 cannont pull a string of Amfleet at no more than 125 due to FRA rules with couplers. Freight trains are what keeps the rails going in this country!

 

Yea, at 130+ if you had an uneven brake activation or a track issue you could break a coupler have the train drift into pieces. Not good. Those amfleet cars got some heft to them, same with the viewliners.

 

- A

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That makes no sense, also their crash worthiness would have to be upgraded as well. Might as well by new cars at that point. There are also some other points which I have not mentioned that would have to be taken into consideration as well.

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Yea, they will be replaced anyways soon enough after some older ones are refreshed and a few are repaired. They are holding up very well despite the 30 years of continuous service, however they recently have been showing their age. I'd say they got another 8-10 years before phased retirement.

 

I have a feeling that these will be even more well preserved than the PRR pax cars. Might see some turned into homes or restaurants etc. Might be a good idea to keep a few handy for FEMA use in evacuations.

 

Budd did a very good job with the stuff they built in their last few decades. Sad we don't have them still around too.

 

- A

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