Annual NEC Trackwork Starting March 4th

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Actually, the track blitz didn't stop from last year. There have been major outages throughout the corridor throughout the usual cool down period. They took advantage of the mild winter. Indeed, they have worked on Hanson thoughout the winter, there has been a long term outage in Delaware for over a month, there was a long term outage in NJ (not related to the catenary)  which will switch to the catenary work in a week or so and an outage CT.  The weekend outages  in NYP continued through the winter though the winter holidays were an exception.

They only thing that starts in March is the the TLM and undercutter will roll out.
 
I could tell that things hadn’t truly stopped about a month ago on a trip out to Route 128. Ballast cars were all over the place. A decent string of them were along a siding near Groton just on the east side of the Thames River. Last weekend I was at Eddystone and there was some equipment that was stored in the small yard there as well.

I’ll assume that this year that Washington Terminal will be undergoing some work as well. Which would bring the engine change to PHL. Cause I know that had been talked about for last year.
 
Acela150 said:
I’ll assume that this year that Washington Terminal will be undergoing some work as well. Which would bring the engine change to PHL. Cause I know that had been talked about for last year.
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You know what they say about assuming. They've talked about that for the last two seasons and it hasn't happened.  Indeed, they've actually had long term outages in the lower level of WAS throughout the winter. They merely serviced the electrics on the low side and moved the diesels to the high side. The only problem that crops up is if you have a late train. They can not fit it until something leaves.

So, hold off your horses since there hasn't been any plan pushed forward to move the engine change to PHL at this time.
 
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jis said:
Depends on whether the current P42 allocations at WAS can absorb the extra time required to get to Philly and back plus turnaround a Philly. I don't know the parameters to know for sure.
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As many times in the last 14 months that a southbound out of WASH has been delayed for a loco the extra 2 hours each way WASH <> PHL will not help.  
 
Are diesels still limited to 79mph on the Corridor tracks? I always thought the speed limit on freight tracks had nothing to do with the engines but was due to the tracks.
 
VAtrainfan said:
Are diesels still limited to 79mph on the Corridor tracks? I always thought the speed limit on freight tracks had nothing to do with the engines but was due to the tracks.
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No. They are allowed their certified speed of 110mph.

As explained above, the speed limit of 79mph is a "signal speed limit" not necessarily a "civil speed limit" or the "equipment speed limit". The effective speed limit is always the lowest of the three.
 
VAtrainfan said:
Are diesels still limited to 79mph on the Corridor tracks? I always thought the speed limit on freight tracks had nothing to do with the engines but was due to the tracks.
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Most of the NEC tracks south of WAS can handle up to 125 mph, and P42s can hit 110 mph, so a P42 running on the NEC can most definitely exceed 79.

EDIT: Darn. Jishnu beat me to it.
 
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It certainly improve Amtrak timekeeping and allow for all year around maintenance if its tracks NYP - WASH were all 4 track main.  That way one could be taken out of service for maintenance without causing the RR to be one or two tracks open in maintenance area.
 
Thirdrail7 said:
You know what they say about assuming. They've talked about that for the last two seasons and it hasn't happened.  Indeed, they've actually had long term outages in the lower level of WAS throughout the winter. They merely serviced the electrics on the low side and moved the diesels to the high side. The only problem that crops up is if you have a late train. They can not fit it until something leaves.

So, hold off your horses since there hasn't been any plan pushed forward to move the engine change to PHL at this time.
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Roger that. As always grateful for your information! 
 
Would it be possible to give some sort of hint for where and what the projects will be focused on this year? Or are there too many to name?
 
daybeers said:
Would it be possible to give some sort of hint for where and what the projects will be focused on this year? Or are there too many to name?
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Too many to name. At some point this production season ,there is something occurring on the NEC. 
 
Acela150 said:
Is it safe to say that most of the track work is related to the new Acela trainsets? Cause IINM, the first prototype should be coming out later this year. 
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No, it has to do with funding and a former CEO that is a consultant for track.
 
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Here is the alert from Amtrak. If I'm not mistaken, when I looked yesterday, it only had general information and not specific train numbers, but stated some of it was to work on the Mystic River Bridge.

Track Work Affects Northeast Regional and Acela Express


Effective March 4, 2019

Due to track and infrastructure improvements being performed along the Northeast Corridor, beginning March 4, minor schedule changes will affect Northeast Regional and Acela Express trains as outlined below.


Washington, New York and Boston


  • Scheduled departures and arrival times of Acela Express and Northeast Regional trains may change by 3 to 15 minutes in both directions between Boston, New York and Washington, DC
  • All Acela Express trains will depart Washington, DC, 10 minutes before the hour

    Trains 2100, 2126, 2128, 2154 and 2228 will continue to depart on the hour

[*]Most Northeast Regional trains will depart from Washington, DC, 5 to 10 minutes earlier

[*]Trains 110 and 127 remain cancelled
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Most of it has to do with a track being out in Maryland, a track being out in Delaware, a track being out in New Jersey and tracks being out in WTC simultaneously. The outage on Philadelphia is absorbed by multiple alternatives and the Atlantic City trains being out.  

New schedules will likely appear every few months.
 
Thirdrail7 said:
Most of it has to do with a track being out in Maryland, a track being out in Delaware, a track being out in New Jersey and tracks being out in WTC simultaneously. The outage on Philadelphia is absorbed by multiple alternatives and the Atlantic City trains being out.  

New schedules will likely appear every few months.
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Are any of these sections just 2 or 3 track territory?  If so it probably would have helped if these sections were 4 track.   However this poster strongly supports the schedule slowdown as this apparently is necessary work and the sooner all track gets to a state of good repair there will be more not fewer track work sections.  Once enough sections are complete overall time NYP <> WASH will be same even with work and may even reduce slightly?
 

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