HUGE CHANGES IN LRT/FREIGHT RR RULES!

[Ocklawaha]

Oh My, The new issue of Railway Age, (a railroad business journal) features an article about NS, NJDOT and the FRA. The future of shared track with LRT, DMU's and what they constantly refer to as the new INTERURBAN. Amazing as this is, the rules first laid out a clear and complete separation of LRT and freight trains. Along came NJ River Line and messed that all up. Freights that didn't finish their switching by the AM cut-off were stuck for 12 hours. Crews had to be shuttled back and forth. Several industrial sidings were not accessible. Finally the FRA and NJDOT came to the rescue with advanced signaling and interlocking. Now the separation of movements can be counted in minutes, not hours! This has HUGE implications for what we propose in Jacksonville. It might indeed also mean we could go with a much cheaper "interurban", "heritage trolley" or our own unique "HERITAGE INTERURBAN CONCEPT" and be just fine with CSX, NS and FEC. This bears some real attention.


Ocklawaha

[thelakelander]

Or we could just go with what New Jersey, Ottawa, Austin and San Diego are running/building on the regular rails and put heritage trolleys on a streetcar line that connects Riverside to Springfield.

[Ocklawaha]

Your so right. This opens up a vista of opportunity for us in Jax. Hell, I was thinking if we could get the same performance, comfort, and capacity as San Diego, Jersey, Ottawa or Austin, with a car that looks like a classic historic interurban, we'd provide for the commuters and pack in the tourists too. Further, it could operate on both the trolley routes AND the "S" or "A" or "FEC". 

Ocklawaha

[thelakelander]

I prefer the modern looking vehicles myself, but both would be better then whats currently on the table.

[big ben]

what do they mean by new interurban?  i looked up interurban rail in wikipedia, but it seems to refer to more historical usage of the word.  it seems like it roughly means regional rail to me, or maybe rail that services the main part of a city as well as the surrounding area.

[thelakelander]

Ock's the expert, but this is what it says at Wikipedia:

Definition of "Interurban"

Real-world lines fit on a continuum between wholly urban street railways and full-fledged railroads. George W. Hilton and John F. Due, in The Electric Interurban Railways in America, define an interurban as a system which shares most or all of four characteristics:

- Electric power
- Passenger service as primary emphasis
- Heavier, faster equipment than urban streetcars
- Operated on street trackage in cities but on roadside tracks or private rights-of-way in rural areas

The definition of "interurban" is necessarily blurry. Some streetcar systems evolved into partly interurban systems with extensions or acquisitions, while other interurban lines became, effectively, light rail systems with no street running whatsoever, or became primarily freight-hauling railroads with a progressive loss of passenger service.

Another distinction is made between "interurban" and "suburban". A suburban system is oriented toward a particular city center in a single urban area, serving primarily commuters who live in the suburbs of a city. An interurban is more like a regular railroad local train service, moving people from one city center to another with no single center. However, unlike a local train, the interurban serves a smaller region and has more frequent service, and is oriented to passenger rather than freight service, although some small-load freight service was common, especially in the days before trucks (lorries).

Chicago's South Shore line

[big ben]

right.  i was wondering more of what the "new" part refers to, but we seem to be getting off topic.  it seems like groups in NJ are putting a lot of work into the workings of their shared lines.  i think it would be good to learn from their mistakes.  any idea if there are easily accessible sources of information online for some of their bigger decisions regarding rail?

[thelakelander]

I think Ock may be talking about some sort of concept that maybe doesn't exist in the US.