By ANDREA JAMES and GEORGE TALBOT
Business Reporters
Local business officials warned Thursday of economic consequences for Mobile industry and the Alabama state docks if Mississippi’s two U.S. senators succeed in relocating the CSX rail line that serves the Gulf Coast.
CSX Transportation Inc. operates a vital rail artery that connects Mobile to New Orleans. The route reopened Jan. 31 – five months after Hurricane Katrina left 100 miles of track in a tangled mess that cost $250 million to repair.
Mississippi Republican Sens. Trent Lott and Thad Cochran are pushing a $700 million plan that would reroute the rail traffic to an inland track, away from hurricane flood zones. The funding has been included in an emergency war spending bill pending before the Senate Appropriations Committee, which Cochran chairs.
“There are a whole lot of impacts there potentially,” state docks Director Jimmy Lyons said. “I have some very significant concerns.”
Rail service is integral to the docks, which handles more than 100,000 freight cars per year.
Katrina’s impact In the aftermath of Katrina, freight traffic that would have moved along the CSX coastal line was diverted through Memphis and Birmingham. That caused bottlenecks, ultimately reducing the frequency of coal shipments to the Port of Mobile. The normally large coal piles at the docks were noticeably smaller – the result of fewer trains per day entering Mobile because of rail congestion through Birmingham, according to docks officials.
In Mississippi, the CSX line hugs the shore, cutting through Biloxi, Gulfport and other coastal towns popular with tourists and casino gamblers.
"I can understand the casino people and them wanting to not have to cross a railroad track. I can understand the logic of
Did anyone consider, you could probably evacuate greater numbers of people faster by rail than clogged highways? I remember reading somewhere,one rail line is equal to 16 highway lanes in its ability to handle passengers and freight.
What? Logic? Your using logic? You can’t use logic! How dare you use logic! Logic is the Devil’s Tool! [:(!]
Logic has no place in this debate about special interests or gambling money, and has absolutely no place in any discussion about how much money those special interests will funnel into my political coffers! Now shut up and let your political leadership decide whats good for you, and that being whats good for you doesn’t count, only whats good for me, my croonies and my re-election fund…Me first, MEEEE! America second, or third![V]
No you can’t. That’s illogic applied to theoretical parameters.
When considering an evacuation situation, you have to remember that the highways can become unidirectional with a continuous uninterrupted stream of vehicles. If a tree falls on the road or culvert washes out, you can usually find a way to drive around the obstruction. And there are usually more roads going in every direction.
The typical railroad is at best single track with sidings, and as we all know railroads are retrenched into limited availability for such situations. Even if you draft every available passenger car, boxcar, and flatcar in the area capable of hauling human beings (and please, no shacklecar references!), each train is still only maxed out at 8000’ in length e.g. siding length limitations. Only one train at a time can occupy a block, so the empties and extras trying to make their way to the evacuation site will have to sit in the hole for the outbounds, or vis versa. The situation is further compounded by the likelyhood of signal failure, relegating the track to dark territory operating rules. Then of course if there is a derailment or a washout, everyone is screwed, going nowhere except on foot since it is doubtful they would be allowed to bring along their autos.
Let’s do some math. The typical passenger car is maybe 85’ in length and capable of hauling 50 to 60 passengers per unit. The typical road is two lanes wide, and each 4 passenger auto takes up 15’ bumper to bumper. Thus you can fit 5 cars per 85’ of length for 10 cars per 85’ or roadway. That’s 40 people per 85’. The train is likely to be no more than 2000’ in length, so assuming about 22 passenger c
that’s a great idea in theory, but in practice it has never panned out. you aren’t going to convince everyone to abandon their cars & possessions and jump on a train unless it’s such a serious & impending disaster that there wouldn’t be enough time to line up that many trains to begin with.