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Originally Posted by City Wide
I'd put money on a bet that within 10 years the City somehow convinces the effected parties to vacate these tracks and move the trains to our west side working version of the high line.
Wishful thinking------------? The City should think that instead of spending millions in trying to work around the tracks, overpasses and boardwalks in the river, to spend the same (+-) to make the tracks go away.
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I doubt it. Those tracks are the CSX mainline, and Drexel looks at the High Line and thinks "park" even though those tracks are just as active.
I mean, if the city wants to gift CSX a new long-distance bypass of the city, that'd easily cost in the tens of billions. But it's pretty much the only way to convince CSX to vacate their Center City-adjacent rights-of-way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nova08
A couple of notes...
I would guesstimate that there are about 25 trains a day that go by Philly on the High Line or the old B&O line on the east bank of the river. When Oil was at it's peak I'd say that was more like 35. It is a North-South route for CSX between New York and Baltimore.
The High Line is incredibly old (113 years to be exact) but is really needed as an alternate route through the city. Otherwise a log jam would form. So you really can't route everything over the High Line and you can't route everything down the B&O line along the river.
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The biggest issue is actually clearance. Double-stack trains have to be routed over the High Line; the Fairmount Tunnel under Eakins Oval doesn't have the clearance. The second biggest issue is that CSX and NS trains share the High Line, as NS uses it to access Greenwich Yard down by the Port.