Passenger Trains > TRi-Rail DMU's

Surprised no one has reported that, in addition to opening the New River Bridge on Mon, Tri-Rail now has three DMU powercars and two coaches. Don't believe any are running in reg service, but there are to be two trainsets in service when the April 30 tt takes effect. Should be interesting to see how these ?1000 HP motors take the grade climbing up to the New River Bridge.

Andy

Isn't the New River in western Virginia? Please be more specific about your subject.

Just rechecked the Miami Herald article and confirmed that the body of water is the New River, just south of Ft Lauderdale, FL. Just a coincidence that the name resembles the scenic river in WV along the former C&O.

Andy

The one DMU-trailer pair is out of service right now because the trailer was damaged in an incident, and the second DMU-trailer pair is at Hialeah awaiting comissioning. Should hopefully be seeing a DMU-trailer-DMU set in service here pretty soon. As for the climb up the bridge, I was thinking about that myself today. 3.5 percent. That's quite a task. But it's been done by the DMU in the past. In one test in Alaska, they started a two car train from a dead stop on similar grade with the prototype single level car with one engine shut down.

J

I'm pretty sure I read awhile back here (or somewhere) that there is a grade separation out in LA that is near 5%. IIRC it is the Metrolink line (to San Bernardino?) on a short jumpover above another rail line or road.

This subject will be central as to how the Coast Guard, Amtrak, and NJT decide on replacing the aging Passaic River drawbidge.

NE933-II Wrote:
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> This subject will be central as to how the Coast
> Guard, Amtrak, and NJT decide on replacing the
> aging Passaic River drawbidge.

Dock? How often is Dock actually raised for river traffic anyway?

The two Metrolink grades of 3% are on the Redondo Jct. and San Bernardino (CA) flyovers. There is a segment of BNSF track in Cajon Pass that is a little over 3% that the SW Chief uses, and of course the Chief also goes over 3% grades at Glorietta and Raton passes in New Mexico.
Steeper grades are very difficult to manage unless you have traction of most of the wheels like transit operators and keep speed very low downhill.

Freddie Wrote:
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> Dock? How often is Dock actually raised for river
> traffic anyway?

Enough. Thanks wonder projects like Seacaucus Jct., MidTown Direct, and Newark Airport, this two track line has swollen to beyond cpacity, and the bridge's temperment makes it vulnerable .

OK, here's the thread where I got the idea that Metrolink had an amazingly steep but short flyover. However it sounds that the El Monte flyover is only 2%.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,199088,199088#msg-199088

NE933-II Wrote:
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> Freddie Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Dock? How often is Dock actually raised for
> river
> > traffic anyway?
>
> Enough. Thanks wonder projects like Seacaucus
> Jct., MidTown Direct, and Newark Airport, this two
> track line has swollen to beyond cpacity, and the
> bridge's temperment makes it vulnerable .

Methinks you mean the Portal Drawbridge across the Hackensack River, which is indeed a two track swing bridge and is a bottleneck.

The Passaic River is crossed near Newark Penn Station over the Dock lift bridge which is way more than a two track bridge. It is a 6 track bridge counting the two PATH tracks and the 4 Amtrak tracks.

Jishnu Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NE933-II Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Freddie Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Dock? How often is Dock actually raised for
> > river
> > > traffic anyway?
> >
> > Enough. Thanks wonder projects like Seacaucus
> > Jct., MidTown Direct, and Newark Airport, this
> two
> > track line has swollen to beyond cpacity, and
> the
> > bridge's temperment makes it vulnerable .
>
> Methinks you mean the Portal Drawbridge across the
> Hackensack River, which is indeed a two track
> swing bridge and is a bottleneck.
>
> The Passaic River is crossed near Newark Penn
> Station over the Dock lift bridge which is way
> more than a two track bridge. It is a 6 track
> bridge counting the two PATH tracks and the 4
> Amtrak tracks.

Yes, that is correct. Sorry for the error. What i meant was Portal across Hackensack river, not Dock/Passaic. Although since we brought it up, it seems like it too can use a good rehab. That bridge hasn't seen a paintbrush in over 25 years.

Yeah, I knew Portal had issues and there is still regular commercial river traffic on the Hackensack. But again please, how often is Dock raised for river traffic?

Freddie Wrote:
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> Yeah, I knew Portal had issues and there is still
> regular commercial river traffic on the
> Hackensack. But again please, how often is Dock
> raised for river traffic?

Can only go on my personal experience; i haven't seen Dock bridge raised in over a decade, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't at all. But I doubt there is any more significant marine traffic that's routed over the Passaic River. The Dock and Portal bridges, along with PATH Hackensack and neiboring ConRail, all 4 bridges when raised, usually give the railroad lots and lots and lots of problems getting it back into place. Speaking of Portal, it seems the previous 70 mph running is awfully slow, back down to 60. Can anyone confirm/deny?