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Oil companies seek greater access to SEPTA line
This means war, lol. A pipeline? Too many EPA hurdles, add the track!!!
What was this oil outfit expecting, that this commuter line reinvent the wheel out of their ( the taxpayers ) pocket, or delay their trains?
Freight on this line is a square peg in a round hole. The short run of the pipeline makes more sense…nobody will lose any sleep over this one.
For once rail passengers are the ones in the driver seat!
There’s actual some misinformation in article that I am going to assume is the result of lack of understanding rail operations… perhaps. The 3-mile section of track in question is already double track SEPTA trains. The issue with freight trains is that they have to make a full crossover from one side of the Airport Line to the other and there’s only one set of crossover at the north end of the 3-mile segment. So when they say “single” track, i think what they meant is that there’s only one path for freight trains take and there currently isn’t a way for a conflicting trains to get around or avoid each other.
With that in mind, the right-of-way is wide enough to handle a 3 track at the northern and sourthern ends of the line. It freight leads could be extended to narrow the gap in which freight trains would have to be on the line. Perhaps a cheaper alternative would be to add a new set of crossovers at the southern end of the line to give the dispatch more flexiblity to get SEPTA trains around a freight train or vice-versa.
Its not war, it is just plain logical and sooner the better.
Its not war, it is just plain logical and sooner the better.
I love it…the audacity that more oil trains that deliver millions of gallons of crude that will be refined for millions of residents of the northeast instead of importing middle east oil might interrupt a commuter train from the airport at 5 am, with what, maybe 15 passengers? And the unelected bureaucrat, supported by taxpayers on this fully supported tax payer railroad, can’t be flexible? Really???
The SEPTA line to the airport consists of two tracks, yet for all of its existence only one track has been used. Perhaps it’s time to put the second track into service.
The proposed pipeline would run from the present load-out to the refinery to replace the short barge run. It is not a bypass around SEPTA. I think the Oil shipper should pay a big chunk of a new set of cross-overs.
My reading of the pipeline is to eliminate the water move FROM the Eddystone rail terminal, not the SEPTA rail move TO the terminal. Its viability would most likely depend on more than once per day train frequencies. I think the second crossover Mr Lung suggests would be sufficient as long as the SEPTA 30 minute frequency isn’t in both directions during non-nocturnal hours, but being an airport service rather than solely a suburban commute service, it’s likely that the 30 minute frequency is bidirectional. I’m using a phone and am too lazy to search the SEPTA timetables, so it’s my educated guess.
Maybe the oil terminal and the railroads would be willing to cover the costs to construct a 2-track flyover on the SEPTA tracks?
Hopefully they charge track usage rates commensurate with the profits NS and CSX reap from this traffic.
This story only has half the information necessary to understand the problem. Is the terminal limited to holding 1 unit train at a time? Can the terminal unload more than 1 unit train in 24 hours? Have the railroads offered to upgrade the SEPTA ROW with more crossovers or a flyover to ensure that oil traffic doesn’t block the airport trains?
From my understanding of what I’m reading I take this as a bunch lawyers at SEPTA claiming the CBR bogeyman while a bunch of lawyers for the refineries and railroads refusing to accept risk. Unfortunately, when lawyers behind the scene drive the train to speak nothing happens. In other words, its all about one passenger on the 5 am train from the airport who has a one trillionth of a chance of perishing that day because the oil car exploded.
It’s not septa OR the pipeline. They need the septa deliveries in order to justify the pipeline. The problem is septa runs half hourly service in both directions, a service level that itself is probably inadequate which the airport would like to see increased. Septa is right to not pay for improvements. I’m confident that a combination of freight contribution and state rail grant can make this work. The state has sunk a lot of money in the see refineries and will no doubt want to seem production increase.
Riding Amtrak thru the 30th ST station, I see the old Pennsy High line. Is it still in service and if not why not?
The old Penn High Line is now a heavily used CSX through line. Regarding comments made about empty 5:00am trains, the reality is that this line is used in the early morning by alot of airport workers and passengers who have booked very early flights.
There are 2 existing track running from the NEC main to the Philadelphia airport but ONLY one used? Actually not difficult to believe based on half hour interval service interval which I assume is so infrequent due to influence of taxi and rental car companies. (Frankfurt, Germany service to the airport runs at 6-15 minutes frequencies and you can purchase that part of travel from anywhere in Germany all on one ticket). Would seem the best of situations. Septa and freight railroads work together to build any necessary infrastructure and use revenue to IMPROVE SEPTA as well as restore currently dormant lines.