N-S Rail Replacement Project Set To Begin Monday
April 20, 2018 at 8:03 p.m.
N-S Rail Replacement Project Set To Begin Monday
By Mark [email protected]
The rail upgrade will run 22 miles from just north of Claypool through Milford, according to a press release from the company.
The new rails come in 1,140-foot sections, and will come from Steel Dynamics near Columbia City.
In the first phase of the project, crews cut asphalt on each side of the rail at crossings. Much of the cutting work is already complete.
When the new rail is ready, crews with backhoes will be staged at crossings and will dig out the cut asphalt, creating a 7-inch trench around the existing rail as the rail train approaches. A rail train will bring the new sections of rail along the track, sliding them off the back of the train into those trenches.
Crews will then place temporary cold patch over the new rail until the second phase in June or July.
The unloading process should only close crossings for approximately 15 minutes at a time, as the rail train passes through and the new rail is dropped into place. Where joints need to be welded, the rail train pause, which could result in a slightly longer closure. Once the rail is dropped into the trench, emergency vehicles will be able to cross the trenched opening, if necessary.
On Monday, weather permitting, the rail train will off-load new sections from Claypool to just south of the Pope Street crossing. While the first train will not be unloading rail at Pope Street, the locomotives will temporarily block the Pope Street crossing.
The rail train will then take anywhere from a couple of days to two weeks to reload with rail in Columbia City before returning to deliver rail to Warsaw. Once a more definitive date is determined, residents will be given a few days notice about when to expect these temporary closures in town. This process will repeat itself until all the rails are dropped off through Leesburg and Milford.
The second phase of the project, scheduled for June 20 to July 15, will cause crossings to be closed for days or weeks at a time.
Crews will start again at Claypool and cover about two miles per day.
The schedule has crews arriving in Warsaw around July 2.
The Market Street crossing will be closed for two to three days. Center and Main streets crossings, as well as the entirely of Hickory Street, will be closed for two to three weeks. When possible, temporary crossings will be opened up to allow some traffic through, but motorists are advised to plan alternate routes.
These extended closures are due to laying conduit and repaving Hickory Street to prepare for crossing upgrades that are currently scheduled to take place in the fall. Doing this conduit work now will eliminate having to close entire crossings later on, except for some short one-lane closures for crew safety.
All closures will occur in order of crossings from south to north. Crossings cannot be skipped and completed later with this process. Closures will occur around train traffic schedules through Norfolk Southern’s dispatch center. Local emergency services will be notified of all closures, so they can plan accordingly.
Exact dates for the summer closings in Leesburg and Milford are not yet known.
The project installs 136-pound rail, meaning each three-foot section weighs 136 pounds. The rails being replaced are 112-pound and 127-pound rails manufactured in the 1930s and reprocessed in the 1970s. The new rail has an expected lifetime of about 50 years. Over time, that means less maintenance and fewer grade-crossing closures due to rail issues. Motorists will benefit from crossing surface improvements.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer called the project a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I think it’ll be interesting to see those long sections of rail set and how the crews and machinery work.”
He added “the railroad will be responsible for providing detours, but I think it’ll be a good idea to plan their own way around the closed crossings.”
The project replaces rail on Norfolk Southern’s Marion Branch mainline. The company serves customers from Goshen to Anderson on this north-south line, and it provides Indiana rail-served businesses with connections to markets in the midwest, the northeast and the south.
A press release from Thallemer’s office said, “Norfolk Southern continues to work closely with city, county, and other local municipal officials to provide information, coordinate detours and notifications to dispatch, and keep everyone apprised of updates and progress. This project is funded in its entirety by Norfolk Southern.”
The rail upgrade will run 22 miles from just north of Claypool through Milford, according to a press release from the company.
The new rails come in 1,140-foot sections, and will come from Steel Dynamics near Columbia City.
In the first phase of the project, crews cut asphalt on each side of the rail at crossings. Much of the cutting work is already complete.
When the new rail is ready, crews with backhoes will be staged at crossings and will dig out the cut asphalt, creating a 7-inch trench around the existing rail as the rail train approaches. A rail train will bring the new sections of rail along the track, sliding them off the back of the train into those trenches.
Crews will then place temporary cold patch over the new rail until the second phase in June or July.
The unloading process should only close crossings for approximately 15 minutes at a time, as the rail train passes through and the new rail is dropped into place. Where joints need to be welded, the rail train pause, which could result in a slightly longer closure. Once the rail is dropped into the trench, emergency vehicles will be able to cross the trenched opening, if necessary.
On Monday, weather permitting, the rail train will off-load new sections from Claypool to just south of the Pope Street crossing. While the first train will not be unloading rail at Pope Street, the locomotives will temporarily block the Pope Street crossing.
The rail train will then take anywhere from a couple of days to two weeks to reload with rail in Columbia City before returning to deliver rail to Warsaw. Once a more definitive date is determined, residents will be given a few days notice about when to expect these temporary closures in town. This process will repeat itself until all the rails are dropped off through Leesburg and Milford.
The second phase of the project, scheduled for June 20 to July 15, will cause crossings to be closed for days or weeks at a time.
Crews will start again at Claypool and cover about two miles per day.
The schedule has crews arriving in Warsaw around July 2.
The Market Street crossing will be closed for two to three days. Center and Main streets crossings, as well as the entirely of Hickory Street, will be closed for two to three weeks. When possible, temporary crossings will be opened up to allow some traffic through, but motorists are advised to plan alternate routes.
These extended closures are due to laying conduit and repaving Hickory Street to prepare for crossing upgrades that are currently scheduled to take place in the fall. Doing this conduit work now will eliminate having to close entire crossings later on, except for some short one-lane closures for crew safety.
All closures will occur in order of crossings from south to north. Crossings cannot be skipped and completed later with this process. Closures will occur around train traffic schedules through Norfolk Southern’s dispatch center. Local emergency services will be notified of all closures, so they can plan accordingly.
Exact dates for the summer closings in Leesburg and Milford are not yet known.
The project installs 136-pound rail, meaning each three-foot section weighs 136 pounds. The rails being replaced are 112-pound and 127-pound rails manufactured in the 1930s and reprocessed in the 1970s. The new rail has an expected lifetime of about 50 years. Over time, that means less maintenance and fewer grade-crossing closures due to rail issues. Motorists will benefit from crossing surface improvements.
Warsaw Mayor Joe Thallemer called the project a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I think it’ll be interesting to see those long sections of rail set and how the crews and machinery work.”
He added “the railroad will be responsible for providing detours, but I think it’ll be a good idea to plan their own way around the closed crossings.”
The project replaces rail on Norfolk Southern’s Marion Branch mainline. The company serves customers from Goshen to Anderson on this north-south line, and it provides Indiana rail-served businesses with connections to markets in the midwest, the northeast and the south.
A press release from Thallemer’s office said, “Norfolk Southern continues to work closely with city, county, and other local municipal officials to provide information, coordinate detours and notifications to dispatch, and keep everyone apprised of updates and progress. This project is funded in its entirety by Norfolk Southern.”
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