More Tuesday morning rail news:
— The Wilmington, N.C., City Council is scheduled to vote today on a $2.5 million contract for engineering work on a plan to relocate a CSX Transportation rail line out of the city and turn the existing right-of-way into a light rail system, a concept which could cost $1 billion. The Port City Daily reports the council will consider a contract with AECOM Technical Services of North Carolina for engineering, environmental, and historic review work for the project to create a new route to the Port of Wilmington [see “Wilmington, N.C., plans studies for possible $1 billion relocation of CSX line,” Trains News Wire, Jan. 20, 2020]. Funding for the contract comes from a Federal Railroad Administration grant and the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
— The pilot of a towing vessel moving 30 grain barges on the Mississippi River misjudged currents when he struck a Kansas City Southern bridge in Vicksburg, Miss., the National Transportation Safety Board has found. Waterways Journal reports the accident occurred at about 7 a.m. on Feb. 27, 2019, when the MV Chad Pregracke hit the third pier of the bridge, sinking one barge and damaging four others. It was the sixth time the bridge was hit in a one-year period.
— NJ Transit will build a natural gas power plant as part of a project to provide electricity to the Northeast Corridor, two NJ Transit lines, and as a backup for one light rail line. NJ.com reports the 140-megawatt generator is part of the larger NJ TransitGrid Traction Power System, a $546 million program. The facility in Kearny, N.J., will also include a 4-acre installation of solar panels. A federal grant will fund $410 million of the project, with the rest coming from NJ Transit’s trust fund.
— A crew member of a Norfolk Southern train was injured Monday when a weed-spraying truck hit a train in Montgomery County, Va., derailing two cars. WDBJ-TV reports the accident was reported about 2 p.m. and the tracks were cleared by 9 p.m.; the crew member was hospitalized with minor injuries. Hazmat teams were briefly involved because the train included cars of propane, but no leak occurred.
Gerald, I know what the 1B includes. As Charles points out, it will never cover capital cost. Just get a rubber tired renewable energy trolley and when it doesn’t pan out , sell it to the next dreamer city
@John Decarolis: It will be for all of the Michael Jordan fans rushing in to see if all the not very nice things he said about the town are true. Just make sure there is a stop in front of Laney High School.
Everyone talking about Wilmington assumes that $1B price is for the light rail line…that price includes the following, purchase of the existing CSX line to convert to light rail use, construction of a new line for CSX to the Port of Wilmington(which includes among other things the purchase of the land for the right of way, engineering and actual construction). People need to think before posting sometimes, the light rail line itself is not going to cost $1B.
Natural gas supplies area currently estimated in existence to be in the thousands of years volume, even at today’s huge increases in consumption…the other elephant in the room, methane produced from livestock and waste dump sites. Even though burning methane creates even more CO2, it is used to generate electricity and as long as we have livestock and waste dumps we’ll have an infinite supply of methane.
GLEN, I’m sure Wilmington is a fine place to live (former ACLRR HQ long ago) but light rail? The 2012 population of metro area of Wilmington was 263,429. If light rail would carry 4,000 persons a weekday (2000 round trips) I’d be shocked. If a dollar a ride went to retiring capital expenses that would take I don’t know, my calculator hasn’t woken up yet, a thousand years to retire the capital at zero percent interest, assuming the system (tracks, rolling stock, stations, bridges) lasts a thousand years without further capital investment. Of course that dollar a ride wouldn’t exist because farebox wouldn’t come close to covering daily operating cost.
Maybe my numbers are off by a factor of ten or so (my mind is in COVID lockdown, much like my governor’s mind) but I think I’ve made my point.
Craig Myers,
CSX does not mind the current routing into the Port of Wilmington, if the city wants to reroute it out of town then the city should be footing the bill, even if it provides a shorter quicker route than currently exists.
Wilmington needs to talk to St. Louis. They built a trolley from and to nowhere for about 55 million. It lasted about 3 months and closed because ridership was low. What a waste of money.
CSX should pay for the line relocation, not the taxpayers of NC or the city of Wilmington. $1 billion for this project will never be recouped.
Nobody is building coal plants. Can’t possibly compete with nat gas. Tragic as it is for miners, coal is a dinosaur.
Not sure Wilmington NC needs a street car, but CSX would benifit from a shorter more direct access to the port. The current route is long, roundabout and has dozens of grade crossings that could be eliminated.
Concerning the NS train derailment, other reports indicated that the “cars of propane” was actually the small propane tank on the caboose. Pictures show the train as a work train with caboose.
$1 billion for light rail? In Wilmington, NC? Absurd in the extreme. Talk about a solution in search of a problem.
The rise in CO2 is the primary cause of global warming and burning coal produces more CO2 than natural gas and definately more than solar. Global warming is real and proven science. Even if global warming was not real the pollution from coal includes mercury, and all kinds of lung damaging pollution.
I must agree Jeffrey Marker. Here’s an interesting side note; the Kentucky Coal Mining Museum in Harlan county is powered by solar.
I guess someone needs to disagree with Carl, so I will speak up. Nothing useful in his post.
I also thought the solar portion of the generating plant.
Coal as a power source is dead, financially and environmentally.
I concur with Mr. Welch as well
CARL WELCH – (1) I don’t know if you expected anyone to agree with you. I agree with you 100%. Your post is good and important.
(2) Does Wilmington need a light rail line and if so at what cost? How many rides would it need to sell to meet operating costs and make a dent at the capital investment?
NJ Transit power plant. Stop with the natural gas power plants. Until we can get over our fears of nuclear, build or rehab coal fired plants. Carbon dioxide is irrelevant to climate, so get over it. Unless some unexpected new source for natural gas is found, there is going to be a big shortage. What we have should be reserved for space heating,