HORNELL, N.Y. — Train traffic through here will get busier than it has in a long time by late summer, the Hornell Evening Tribune reports.
Norfolk Southern has confirmed it will move up to four trains andeight crews from the so-called Pennsy-Buffalo Line, which connects Buffalo and Harrisburg and runs through Olean, to the Southern Tier Line that runs through the Hornell and tri-county area en route from Buffalo to Binghamton.
NS spokesman Rudy Husband warned the additional traffic should not be misconstrued as meaning the railroad is putting renewed emphasis on the Southern Tier Line, after years of sluggish growth in freight traffic.
“I wouldn’t read more into it. I would not draw any long-term conclusions,” Husband said. “The Southern Tier is going to have to add value to Norfolk Southern. … This agreement certainly helps that, but you make a big mistake over drawing any long-term conclusions, whether you are talking about the Southern Tier or any rail operation.”
What sparked the additional trains and crews on the Southern Tier Line is an announcement that NS has gained nearly 57 miles of trackage rights over the Reading, Blue Mountain & Northern regional railroad’s Lehigh Line in eastern Pennsylvania.
These new trackage rights will allow NS to run trains directly between Binghamton and Allentown, Pa..
Sending trains from Buffalo through Hornell to Binghamton, and then on the Lehigh Line to Allentown, is much quicker than the current route from Buffalo to Olean and on to Harrisburg, according to Husband. That’s because much of the Pennsy-Buffalo Line has a 25 mph speed, he added, and required additional helper crews based in Olean to help trains up and down the steep grade in Keating Summit, Pa.
NS and Canadian Pacific railroad run four to six trains a day through Hornell, Husband said. That number is expected to increase to eight to 10.
Growth in freight traffic will occur in two phases: Two trains will be added to the Southern Tier Line on Aug. 1, with two more trains added 30 to 60 days, according to Nasca.
“They will be huge trains, 150 to 160 cars,” said Nasca.
The rerouted trains will be supported by NS’s creation of a pool of six crews and two extra board crews, all to be based in Binghamton, Husband said. The railroad will eliminate its eight-crew pool and two-crew extra board in Renovo, Pa., as well as its helper crews in Olean.
NS also will redirect six engineers and six conductors from the Pennsy-Buffalo Line to the new crew trains on the Southern Tier Line.
To get from Buffalo to Binghamton, the extra train traffic on the Southern Tier Line will run across a historic bridge spanning Letchworth State Park.
The 127-year-old bridge spans the park’s Upper Falls, 200 feet in the air. Maintenance of the bridge has become expensive, and NS has made no secret that it wants help in replacing the historic bridge.
“We’re maintaining it so it can handle trains safely,” Husband said. “We are negotiating with (the state) Department of Transportation over a possible partnership in replacing the bridge.”
Nasca confirmed that there have been talks of a public-private partnership to replace the bridge, but said there was “no clearly defined money” yet in Albany for the project.
Husband said the bridge, which has a 10 mph speed limit, will be able to handle the additional traffic safely.
The original Letchworth bridge was built in 1852, when the Erie Railroad boasted the 800-foot-long and 234-foot-high span was the longest and highest wooden railroad bridge in the world. That bridge burned 23 years later, and was replaced by the existing iron structure.