Eastern Railroad Discussion > Potential NEW rail line east from Richmond, VA.?

HERE'S THE NEWS BLURB, published just this week in West Point, Virginia's "TIDEWATER REVIEW NEWSPAPER":
http://www.tidewaterreview.com/news/va-tr-kw-rail-study-1226-20121221,0,2713137.story

There is NO SPECIFIC ALIGNMENT chosen yet, and this is still being "studied" for the next year or two -- but it's in development. It could be a new local route off the Buckingham Branch RR, or CSXT, or Norfolk Southern -- no one has determined even that much. It would extend east from Richmond to CENTRAL GARAGE, VIRGINIA along highway 360, which is located in northern King William County, just over 20 miles north of West Point, or about 15 miles south of Doswell, Va. BBRR and CSX intersect in a diamond crossing at Doswell; NS runs the branch line to West Point, and its line is very close to - not far south of - this area.

Possible routes could be chosen among such possibilities as an ALL NEW line (operated by either of the three carriers listed above), or either of those 3 carriers also running a RESTORED local rail line which once ran east from Richmond toward Tappahannock, Virginia (during the mid 19-teens), but was torn back up before the early 1920's. That was called the "Richmond & Rappahannock River Railroad" (imagine those reporting marks, LOL!).

MAP of Central Garage, VA. area kitty litter factory site:
http://www.yellowpages.com/king-william-va/mip/nestle-purina-pet-care-co-26734171?lid=26734171&show_map=true

TEXT EXCERPT:
"....According to County Administrator Trent Funkhouser, the resolution was requested by a representative of Nestle Purina Petcare Company. Funkhouser said in a memo to the board that since the construction of the kitty litter manufacturing facility in 1998, the company has periodically expressed the need for new rail access and the need to address existing rail capacity issues in the Commonwealth...."

INFO on the Nestle Purina Petcare Company: they receive carloads of Bentonite Clay for the manufature of KITTY LITTER. Curently, the cars come from the upper Midwest and are unloaded at CSXT's Acca Yard bulk terminal site. There is also a new unloading facility of some sort said to be nearly completion at Buckingham Branch RR's Doswell, Va. Yard about 20 miles north of Richmond -- much closer to the plant in KW County, in the town of Central Garage, Va. However, the old RR from the 19-teens runs almost to the town where the kitty litter plant exists -- from a line diverging off CSXT in Richmond's Shockoe Valley. Only a housing development stands in that line's way if restored, so it might be feasible to connect Norfolk Southern's West Point, Va. branch line to the old right of way, which runs through the east Richmond suburb of Cold Harbor, Va. (That long-defunct RR from the 19-teens ended at the Pamunkey River about 2 miles west of the kitty litter factory's current 2012 site -- which is close enough to consider its restoration and extension toward Central Garage.)

Now, many will rightly argue that a single, "marginal" customer such as this isn't justification for such a major expenditure for a rail line of about 15 or 20 miles. What isn't being stated in the newspaper article, however, is that there are dozens of so-called "marginal" and LARGER potential rail customers in this area, many in or near the town of TAPPAHANNOCK, about 12 more miles east along Highway 360 which could perhaps justify serious consideration for another rail line east from Richmond. Some of those are very large timber industry businesses, Perdue Grain facility, automotive-related businesses, at least one large aggregate [cement] company in Aylett, Virginia, plastics makers, and others. Additionally, Virginia's "Northern Neck" has several LARGE businesses, some which DO ship by rail: trucking their products to rail heads such as CSXT's Fredericksburg area. All of these might benefit by a rail extension such as the one being proposed here.

There's more: enough business is near the town of West Point on NS's branch line east from Richmond, that the town council has a plan on the books for a potential bulk terminal in or near the town to be served by NS. NS, for its part, already has a bulk terminal - but it's many miles away in Petersburg, Va. That's their official opinion on a bulk terminal in West Point, so perhaps THIS NEW PROJECT, linked to above, could be re-developed to cover all of these possibilities.

???

"STAY TUNED" for how this project turns out: one of those three rail carriers might end up running such an extension.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/12 14:39 by rbx551985.

There are too many unknowns to predict cost per mile with certainty... but to acquire new linear ROW, grade it (even on the coastal plain), install drainage and highway crossings, and build a single track railroad adequate for freight at 35 mph (FRA Class III) could cost $10 million per mile... not to mention the EIS process and dealing with NIMBYs. Sounds improbable to me.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/12 15:42 by ctillnc.

I say if the customers are willing to help pay some of the cost then they have a good start!! But we all know the epa wont stand for new business! !! So i don't see it happening! !

Posted from Android

RE:
Author: ctillnc
"There are too many unknowns to predict cost per mile with certainty... but to acquire new linear ROW, grade it (even on the coastal plain), install drainage and highway crossings, and build a single track railroad adequate for freight at 35 mph (FRA Class III) could cost $10 million per mile... not to mention the EIS process and dealing with NIMBYs. Sounds improbable to me."

~~~AND~~~

Author: Big_Blue_mac_attack
"I say if the customers are willing to help pay some of the cost then they have a good start!! But we all know the epa wont stand for new business! !! So i don't see it happening!"
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As at least one or two other locals have pointed out here in Virginia, the cost of an environmental study for such a rail line will NOT be cheap by any measure, especially if the route must build 2 bridges (see paragraph below....).

The most likely scenarios so far seem to be a line extension northward from NS's West Point line EAST OF THE PAMUNKEY RIVER DRAWBRIDGE, which could in fact also be operated by BBRR or NS, or some sort of combination of service. There are at least 2 or 3 housing developments ON the old right-of-way just east of Laburnum Ave. in east Richmond, and there is also I-295, the Chicahominy River [and swamp area] to consider, as well as another potential Pamunkey River bridge near the point where Highway 360 crosses it near Manquin, Va. All those seem to point to the NS line extension, from some point near "Lestor Manor," where the eastern edge of the Pamunkey Indian Reservation exists. That's only about 10 or so miles from the kitty litter plant anyway, and perhaps a railhead serving the region could be set up there, a bulk terminal, transload site and more. Could the line be built out farther, say, to Tappahannock itself? Maybe, but for now Central Garage, Va. seems to be where KW County supervisors want to look at first.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/12 07:12 by rbx551985.

Rhett, say if CSX wanted this real bad couldn't they build off the BBRR somewhere between AM Jct and Doswell at it closest point (furthest east) or branch off somewhere on the RF&P around Milford? Would either of these ideas be as reasonable as the NS coming north from West Point?

NWRailfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Rhett, say if CSX wanted this real bad couldn't
> they build off the BBRR somewhere between AM Jct
> and Doswell at it closest point (furthest east) or
> branch off somewhere on the RF&P around Milford?
> Would either of these ideas be as reasonable as
> the NS coming north from West Point?

That might be feasible as well if the cost is less than an 8-to-10 mile extension from the NS line at Lestor Manor, Va. -- the closest point which the NS line gets to Central Garage that doesn't need another river crossing. This WILL be another option discussed; we'll just have to see how it plays out. For what it's worth, Buckingham Branch RR is the most hoped-for carrier for any such extension as BBRR is the most customer-friendly RR in the Commonwealth of Virginia.