The NEC is shut down south of Philadelphia 9/16/14

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M

MARC Rider

Robber Baron
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2011
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6,172
Location
Baltimore. MD
When I came into the Baltimore station this morning (about 0530), it seems that all the Amtrak trains were cancelled. I overheard the agent at the information counter tell a customer that the blockage was somewhere between Aberdeen and Perryvile, and, indeed the 5:40 northbound MARC train was shown as terminating in Edgewood, the stop before Aberdeen. My southbound MARC train was running fine, though, On Amtrak.com, the service notice said something about a downed wire. I hope they get it up and running soon. What was really interesting, however, was that given the circumstances, there should have been a crowd of displaced Amtrak passengers, as there's an Acela Express that leaves Baltimore at 5:30, and Regional that leave at 5:35, the southbound #67 at 6:10 and another northbound regional at 6:13 or so. But the station seemed eerily quiet. Did Amtrak actually call passengers and tell them to stay away? Or did they spin up some buses real fast?

No estimate on when the line wil re-open.
 
An NS "High/wide" load (power transformer) rolled over and took down the catenary and a pole last night. Expect disruptions and delays all day while the cat is restored and tracks reopened.
 
Oops. That'll be an expensive mistake. At least nobody was hurt. I'm in the middle of reading a 1994 NTSB report from when a CSX intermodal train had a trailer break loose ad swing out in front of an Amtrak train, killing the engineer and hurting a bunch of other people. Railroading can be dangerous stuff.
 
RyanS said:
Oops. That'll be an expensive mistake. At least nobody was hurt. I'm in the middle of reading a 1994 NTSB report from when a CSX intermodal train had a trailer break loose ad swing out in front of an Amtrak train, killing the engineer and hurting a bunch of other people. Railroading can be dangerous stuff.
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Expensive not just for NS and Amtrak. If that was a high voltage transformer (high/wide, it surely was), those puppies are multi-million dollar items. They are also custom made to order, all overseas or Mexico, and have a minimum lead time (with a rush-rush) of months (without a rush, maybe 18 months). It's possible that it can be righted, sent somewhere and rebuilt, but that is not cheap, easy, or fast either. Someone's substation project just took a major schedule hit.

They are also very heavy, and very top-heavy. All-in-all, they are nasty to move around, and for something as brutish as a transformer, take some serious TLC in handling. They carry accelerometers during transit (and usually a rider) to make sure they don't get jostled too much. That's one's pinned off-scale last night.
 
If you're on the "Amtrak Northeast Corridor Railfans" Facebook Group, there's lots of good info. Looks like they turned that Acela set at WIL to go back north, and a guy who says he was working in the CNOC said they're hoping to get a track open this afternoon. Going to be a looooong day for a lot of people.
 
PRR 60 said:
An NS "High/wide" load (power transformer) rolled over and took down the catenary and a pole last night. Expect disruptions and delays all day while the cat is restored and tracks reopened.
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Well that's a good way to get new catenary installed. I wish NS would do more night moves of highs wides talls and rotunds.
 
NE933 said:
PRR 60 said:
An NS "High/wide" load (power transformer) rolled over and took down the catenary and a pole last night. Expect disruptions and delays all day while the cat is restored and tracks reopened.
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Well that's a good way to get new catenary installed. I wish NS would do more night moves of highs wides talls and rotunds.
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Unfortunately, it is not the catenary wires themselves that really need to be replaced. It is the catenary towers and suspension system that needs to be replaced with a modern constant tension catenary configuration for more reliable service. In this case, though, if the wires and a pole were taken down by a NS movement of a heavy power transformer that rolled over, I expect it would have made no difference if the catenary system had been modernized or not.
Checking status maps, this disruption is making for a very bad day on the southern NEC and will mess up trips throughput the Mid-Atlantic and southeast.
 
What kind of power do the freights use on the NEC? Do they stick with their diesels or do they have electric units? Is the Catenary high enough for double stack loads (and Superliners), Hudson tunnel, obviously excepted?
 
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This mishap will not cause new technology constant tension catenary to be installed in the area of the mishap. The old catenary will be restored as it was before the mishap. And it will be done as fast as possible.

VentureForth said:
What kind of power do the freights use on the NEC? Do they stick with their diesels or do they have electric units?
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Diesel, though specially equipped with NEC variety of PTC, i.e. ACSES and NEC Cab signal.
Is the Catenary high enough for double stack loads (and Superliners)?
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In general on open track the catenary is high enough for accommodating Superliners, and some but not all auto racks, and in general not double stacks. There are special areas where it is high enough for those too..

Superliners are about 1.7' lower than double stacks. The Alaska Railroad operated Colorado Railcar super domes are the same height as double stacks, but not Superliners.
 
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Very interesting. Thanks for the info.

We need AU boots on the ground in DC reporting what's happening to through trains in and out of DC. I see that 98 arrived and is just sitting there. Will they move it so that 92 can come in? I know there are more than just one or two platforms - but multiply that scenario by about 12 and I wonder what's getting in and out of the station, or if trains are holding outside of DC until they can undo the gridlock?
 
Does NS have to compensate Amtrak and others for lost ticket revenue and passenger accommodation costs when they do this?
 
Paulus said:
Does NS have to compensate Amtrak and others for lost ticket revenue and passenger accommodation costs when they do this?
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No. Nor does Amtrak have to compensate NS if the cause is found to be something on the Amtrak side. Like all railroad trackage rights agreements, it is a "no fault" deal. Amtrak pays Amtrak's costs and NS pays NS's costs regardless of fault.
 
PRR 60 said:
Paulus said:
Does NS have to compensate Amtrak and others for lost ticket revenue and passenger accommodation costs when they do this?
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No. Nor does Amtrak have to compensate NS if the cause is found to be something on the Amtrak side. Like all railroad trackage rights agreements, it is a "no fault" deal. Amtrak pays Amtrak's costs and NS pays NS's costs regardless of fault.
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What's the rationale behind that brilliante stipulation?
 
Track 3 will be open shortly. First train will be walked by to make sure everything clears and there will be a speed restriction on all after that. Don't look for everything to run normal until tomorrow sometime. They still have to remove and replace the pole and remove the rolled over load.
 
It seems everyone is comfortable with it if it appears the costs of these accidents averages out. But doesn't it appear that rail version of Kumbayaa is predicated on a delicate economy, and the acceptance of all, is very fickle?

Well, if this holds true for the next hundred years, I'll eat my words with ketchup. And we can certainly do without so many lawsuits.
 
Looks like most trains are running on or close to schedule along the NEC today. Kudos

to the crews for their quick work in getting this mess cleaned up.
 
Was on 176 on the 17th.. She departed BAL on-time but lost a little under 10 minutes into WIL. Left BRP a total of 20 minutes late and that was the latest we were. She somehow made it all up and arrived into RTE 10 minutes early! :)
 
NE933 said:
It seems everyone is comfortable with it if it appears the costs of these accidents averages out. But doesn't it appear that rail version of Kumbayaa is predicated on a delicate economy, and the acceptance of all, is very fickle?
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Yep. And the state governments aren't tolerating it. It worked fine when all railroads had both passengers and freight, and none were particularly known for irresponsibility.
This isn't the situation any more; the freight haulers have less potential damage (freight is worth less than passengers), but are much more likely to cause crashes than the passenger haulers. This "standard" doesn't work any more and will eventually be dumped in some round of contracts or other.

Well, if this holds true for the next hundred years, I'll eat my words with ketchup. And we can certainly do without so many lawsuits.
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Word on TrainOrders was that this was actually Amtrak's fault; they routed an oversize generator onto the wrong track and that's why it hit the catenary pole.
 
In this case, from what I hear, it was Amtrak's fault. I'm not sure about the grassy knoll, though. I lean more toward the CIA. :)
 
RyanS said:
Word on TrainOrders is also that everything bad that happens is Amtrak's fault. Amtrak was actually the second gunman on the grassy knoll. True story.
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No, that was actually Kennedy. Amtrak was behind Brunel gauge losing out.
 
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