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Maryland pulls funding for new CSX terminal
Marylanders and their inept politicians continue to shoot themselves in the foot. Anyone wonder why we’re one of the most business-unfriendly states? (But we LOVE casinos–all six of them, and their “contribution” to the GDP)!
150 truck trips does sound pretty intolerable and very inefficient. How long is the Howard tunnel, and how much would it cost to upgrade it to handle double-stacks? If it isn’t significantly more than the $30 million they would have spent on the new terminal, that seems like the much better choice to me.
CSX was really shortsighted in closing and abandoning the former Western Maryland Railway Port Covington facility. It was a deep water port with plenty of room for many loading tracks for cranes and storage for containers. It was also south of the Howard Street tunnel with connecting track to B&O, now CSX mainline tracks. Instead we have a Wal-Mart and a Baltimore Sun printing plant on the former Port Covington location.
And there goes all the jobs that would’ve helped that area out from construction to actually working the intermodal facility
“…few jobs but too much noise, pollution, and truck traffic.”
Jobs are obviously secondary to these concerns which are everyday components of industry nationwide.
I think the Western Maryland Railway Port Covington facility closed in 1973, way back when railroads were bleeding money and CO/BO at that time had a newer more efficient port. Also at that time who’d thought we’d be getting this much cargo off of ships from overseas and not manufacturing the stuff ourselves.
Howard street tunnel is about 1.6 miles long. There are also shorter tunnels east of there on the “Belt Line” which would also require adjustment. It will be interesting to see what the next move will be.
I know the area and “depressed” is putting it mildly. Now the Nimbys have killed the working class, well paying jobs the terminal would have provided, and they’re still stuck with the mostly empty yard.
If Bmore can’t come up with some other way to deal with double stacks (south of the tunnel, say in the Curtis Bay area) they can say “goodbye” to that traffic which going to head to Norfolk.
The nimbys strike again
I can’t say I’d be excited about 150 trucks a day either. That’s 300 trips a day. That’s a lot of traffic.
The Howard street tunnel also goes directly under a large section of downtown and other neighborhoods. I doubt they will ever be able to raise the night of it considering utilities and possible other rail tunnels in the way.
CSX should sponsor a SimCity mod of the region in question. Let people play with scenarios and see possible and optimal futures in just a few hours.
The Howard street tunnel also goes directly under a large section of downtown and other neighborhoods. I doubt they will ever be able to raise the night of it considering utilities and possible other rail tunnels in the way.
CSX should sponsor a SimCity mod of the region in question. Let people play with scenarios and see possible and optimal futures in just a few hours.
They had planned to single stack trains from Seagirt to A yard then double them up and head them west. There might be some alternative sites off the Curtis Bay branch and I wonder if there’s any land to be had near the Jessup auto terminal? The A yard wasn’t the first choice as an ideal site anyway but it was doable. Too bad they can’t run double stacks north out of Sparrows Point. The port wants to expand onto some of the property of the old Bethlehem Steel mill. By using NS’s North Point branch with a new connection at Bayview after dropping under the NEC CSX could access the Philadelphia main. But that would cause a roundabout routing to get west. We’ll see what happens. Too many NIMBYS around these days!
They had planned to single stack trains from Seagirt to A yard then double them up and head them west. There might be some alternative sites off the Curtis Bay branch and I wonder if there’s any land to be had near the Jessup auto terminal? The A yard wasn’t the first choice as an ideal site anyway but it was doable. Too bad they can’t run double stacks north out of Sparrows Point. The port wants to expand onto some of the property of the old Bethlehem Steel mill. By using NS’s North Point branch with a new connection at Bayview after dropping under the NEC CSX could access the Philadelphia main. But that would cause a roundabout routing to get west. We’ll see what happens. Too many NIMBYS around these days!
They had planned to single stack trains from Seagirt to A yard then double them up and head them west. There might be some alternative sites off the Curtis Bay branch and I wonder if there’s any land to be had near the Jessup auto terminal? The A yard wasn’t the first choice as an ideal site anyway but it was doable. Too bad they can’t run double stacks north out of Sparrows Point. The port wants to expand onto some of the property of the old Bethlehem Steel mill. By using NS’s North Point branch with a new connection at Bayview after dropping under the NEC CSX could access the Philadelphia main. But that would cause a roundabout routing to get west. We’ll see what happens. Too many NIMBYS around these days!
I don’t know why the neighborhood wouldn’t want it. It would be jobs and it would clean the area up. There are couches and other trash dumped in the middle of the road and an unbelievable amount of trash dumped on the grounds of the now not in use “A” yard. I guess the neighborhood likes being a trash dump with no new jobs…to each his own.
Silly nimby arguments. The entire area is surrounded by warehouses and interstate. I’m sure they had no issue building those which involve lots of trucks. The trucks could exit off I95 almost un-noticed.