Why are the trains backed up in Northern Indiana

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

I have noticed in the past couple of weeks there have been lots of trains backed up coming into the elkhart yard and many past the yard into South bend waiting for several days going towards chicago anyone know why

Thanks

Rich

2

I would guess that the adverse weather we’ve been having here in Iowa and points west might have something to do with it…

3

weather and a derailment in goshen indiana hasnt helped matters either.has been a bad year around these parts for switches to freeze up on ns and csx.

stay safe

joe

4

yeah I figured the derailment could be part of it but most of the trains lined up are past that point heading into the yard

5

I read somewhere a statement from the NS that the Goshen incident is no longer the problem–but you can bet that it triggered the latest wave, and the ripple effect has just kept on rippling.

It was nearly two years ago that I rode Amtrak 29 through there and we encountered all kinds of delaying traffic between Toledo and Elkhart. It seems to be a chronic problem. What I don’t get is, how did Conrail get by without the problem (or at least with less of a problem)? I’m assuming that the Conrail breakup of 1999 decreased, not increased, the traffic on the Water Level Route, as some of it would have gone to CSX. Perhaps they can blame it all on the CP trains that were moved to this line from CSX in Michigan.

6

It is not only on the Elkhart line, take a look at my thread on “tough day to be a railroader” which outlines problems on the parallel NS Fort Wayne line and the CN.

These problems are occuring very frequently now, particularly on the NS, which normally runs fairly smoothly. Of course, I am hearing more and more new trains, no doubt re-routes off the the Elkhart line as that line is getting more plugged up.

I am not sure the traffic on the Elkhart line is down since 1999. My guess is that it is pretty much the same, perhaps more with the CP trains. I just think Chicago is the choking point.

Carl would be better to explain this, but if yards fill up in Chicago, such as Clearing, Proviso, Yard Center, etc, there is just no where to go.

ed