From: cb@oddjob.mitre.org (Christopher M. Byrnes)
Subject: Re: 200-mile rail network under study in Vermont.
Organization: The Mitre Corp., Bedford, MA.
	<CB.92Sep8191537@oddjob.mitre.org>
	<jeff.716004089@amber.athena.lkg.dec.com>
Distribution: na
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 23:36:28 GMT

In article <jeff.716004089@amber.athena.lkg.dec.com> jeff@athena.lkg.dec.com (Jeff S. Tyler) writes:
>Well that leaves us with only the B&M/CV Conn. river line or via northern
>Main for direct rail access into Canada, right ? WWJ/Concord is gone, the
>Cheshire went about 1971, and the notch is still there but embargo'ed at
>least if not actually abandoned (MEC ?).  There have been numerous recent
>stories about the "intermodal terminal" to be built at FT Devens by
>Guilford and CP(nee DH) but never any clear picture of what the traffic
>patterns would look like.
  It's my understanding that several potential traffic patterns are
being explored.  One is to route some of the existing Conrail traffic
that is overloading their Westborough freight terminal from Worcester
to Ft Devens, much as Conrail now runs Ford's enclosed auto triple
racks up the existing B&M Worcester branch to the unloading ramps near
Ayer (and Ft Devens).  Another is to lower Hoosic Tunnel and run all
manner of stack trains off the CP/D&H in Mechanicsville to Ft. Devens
along the length of the B&M.  A third that was explored by a test
train last year is to route D&H stack trains through Whiteburgh, N.Y.,
across the C&P (now a D&H branch) to Vermont, down the length of
Vermont to Bellows Falls via VTR and GMRC, then down the CV to
Greenfield, MA, where they connect to the existing B&M mainline that
goes to Ft. Devens.  This more complex route avoids Hoosic Tunnel and
the construction costs involved, although I never did hear how many
bridges would have to be adjusted to allow stack trains on this other
route.
>All involve containers and the port of Boston but that's it.  I would
>assume that if there is indeed CP interest and if any traffic actually
>rolls west of Devens it would be via the B&M to Mechanicsville (sp?)
>NY and then via D&H.  What does the clearance look like between Ayer and
>the B&M yards in Boston? single stack at best I would guess.
The clearance between Ft Devens and the Moran container shipping
terminal in Charleston (the intended destination of these New England
stack trains) only allows a single container.  That's one reason for
the interest in the Ft. Devens rail facility; the proposal is to stack
and unstack between single and double in Ft. Devens (there's not
enough room for this in Charleston anyways), much as Conrail currently
does to its stack trains in Syracuse.
>The Worcester Mass T&G ran an editorial the other day grumping about
>all of this and telling Bill Weld to watch his step, somewhat
>surprising in light of their generally favorable stand on rails in
>general.  I got the feeling that they felt that Worcester (port of
>Worcester :-) stack traffic might be threatened by a Devens terminal.
I'm not sure a Ft Devens-based terminal (intended as a replacement for
the one in Westborough, not the ones in Worcester) would be that much
of a threat.  Much of Worcester's existing stack traffic is generated
for Worcester-area businesses and by the P&W's efforts to promote
Providence, RI as a rail shipping port.  This proposal is intended to
promote the Port of Boston, not to cut into Worcester's traffic base.

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					Christopher Byrnes
					The MITRE Corporation
					202 Burlington Road
					M/S A378A
					Bedford, Mass. 01730-1420

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