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Indiana shortline upgrades delayed by federal regulators
Sounds like a procedural bump in the road that has nothing to do with a off topic political rant or the long gone PRR.
Environmental impact: the current CSX route from Indy to Louisville is through Cincinnati. The L&I routing would save hundreds of miles per train, saving thousands of gallons of diesel fuel and the resultant reduction in those all important carbon emissions. I would imagine the impact on wildlife will be negligible, especially when compared to parallel I-65. Plus trains traveling fewer miles have fewer opportunities to hit animals, right?
Seriously? I can hear generations of my PRR antecedents spinning in their graves.
Bruce: It’s the former PRR main between Indianapolis and Louisville. And I doubt the original builders had this much bureaucracy to mitigate when they started.
Ultimately you are talking about upgrading an existing line and having trains travel less miles and investment in infrastructure. If you build or live next to RR tracks they may eventually see some or more traffic than they do today. There is no logical reason for the delay and I live on the Louisville to Cincinnati line and will miss the trains that will be diverted over the new route.
Randall…seriously? You’re still stuck in pre 2008? Live in the now!
Also Randall, how many trillions in deficits has the current administration racked up since they’ve been in office???
This could mean more trains on the Monon Sub,which runs through Dyer.I’m looking forward to it.
Rants and raves about our government. Try to remember this is a Government of by and for the people. If you don’t like things run for Congress. Just remember that there are many different viewpoints on many different issues.
This is the logical outcome when voters demand that government regulates every last little detail in life because they were told it must be that way. Might was well cancel Staggers and go back to how things were done years ago and make the regulators happy.
On the other hand, what is stopping CSX from doing a Reverse Miegs Field? For the uninitiated, back in the day, when Chicago had a real mayor instead of Deadfish The Ballerina, Da Mayor, Richard M Daley one night ordered the bulldozing of Miegs Field while the FAA tried to stop him the next day after the project was done. To this day, the FAA is still trying to stop Daley from bulldozing Miegs. Which shows how terminally stupid Washington big government regulators can be. In this instance, all CSX has to do is get all its track upgrading equipment and materials lined up in a staging area out of sight of the regulators. If the regulators do find it and ask questions, tell them its for keeping the corn stalks from blowing on the track or its for an antique tractor and steam engine pull or something really stupid that the regulators would most likely believe. Then when everything is set, have an all night track rebuilding session so that by morning, the project is done and there is nothing for the STB to do but hold more hearings, have a tantrum, or do some other insane thing which will supposedly stop what was done. There is much to be learned from both Mayor Daleys when it comes to getting things done when Washington mucks things up.
It is ridiculous how much crap the government seems to be pulling on the project. Trains moving on less track equals less opportunity to hurt animals, derail, pollute, etc. The answer is pretty straightforward. The government is getting too involved with things it needs to stay out of.
For pity’s sake!!! This is an active rail line, not a new line or an abandoned line brought back to life. The gov’t needs to put some conditions on the transaction saying CSX can’t delay emergency vehicles and get out of the way. Any animals near the RR will ignore the add’l trains - the animals are already used to trains. Another example of gov’t out of control.
In the end, the project will be approved. Only proves that government isnt the solution to a problem, government IS the problem. No wonder China is kicking our ass…
In the end, the project will be approved. Only proves that government isnt the solution to a problem, government IS the problem. No wonder China is kicking our ass…
Well this doesn’t sound like a railroad forum anymore. It’s becoming a rant of political hacks more and more. Right Matthew, lets do away with all those rules and regulations, bring back DDT and lets finish off the rest of the birds and small animals, Allow arsenic again in unhealthy amounts to increase in the public drinking supply, so what if people like you are born deformed. Allow farmers to use Agent Orange to kill vegetation, it’s not very deadly, just ask the families of the deceased US Vet’s who died from expose to it in Viet Nam.
Matthew, you want to hate someone, just look in the mirror at a stupid non voter who allowed the US to become what it is.
Another reason why I hate Obama, the epa and everything our goverment has become. If people cant understand why everything has now cost so much, the main reason is the rules and regs from the epa folks. You are now seeing why. All csx wants to do is upgrade the line and replace a bridge. Thats all! and now the epa has to step in ? I hate our goverment!
Getting back to the topic…
Cincy is a difficult and overloaded operation for CSX at present, as EVERYTHING moving to/thru the area gets jammed through the narrow gap at Queensgate. The current routing up the L&I from Louisville to Seymour, then east over the former B&O to Cincinnati does take some pressure off the bridge at Cincy and the limited-capacity direct route between the two endpoints, but does nothing to help the terminal itself.
Quite a bit of the traffic moving over the L&I will turn east at Indy and follow the NYC line to Sidney, Ohio (junction of the Cincy-Detroit main), resuming the current routing north and east of there. Adding Seymour-Indy will provide relief for the Cincinnati terminal by getting cars that don’t -need- to be in Cincinnati out of way.
I hate to even make comments on this forum because I’m afraid somebody might think I don’t have a life either but if you really think things are so much more costly now, you might look at the trillions of dollars spent waging an unnecessary war by the former administration, much of which went to the coffers of the vice-president’s former firm.
Thanks Mr. Lockman. The old NYC route out of Indy completely slipped my mind as an alternative for bypassing Cincy completely.