Clipping

[Dietrich, Robert J.]

If I'm not mistaken the Baltimore Light rail shares rails with a nighttime
freight line.  But here in our Commonwealth we'll have none of that unsafe
practice.  You can't depend on people, or high-tech electronic equipment, to
read signals.  

There is a big push for commuter passenger service between Philadelphia and
Reading.  Norfolk & Southern, who (I Think) owns the ROW, this month,
proposed that SEPTA rebuild the Pennsy low-grade line from Thorndale to the
Susquehanna river for the N&W freight.  Then SEPTA could lease the Reading
ROW from N&W.

I think they are considering it.



 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Kenneth Josephson [mailto:kjosephson at sprintmail.com] 
Sent:	Tuesday, February 27, 2001 3:26 PM
To:	pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
Subject:	Re: Clipping



Derrick J Brashear wrote:

> Sharing rail rights of way isn't as simple as that, especially in this day
> of lawsuits. Look at what happened after (Ricky?) Gates ran that Conrail
> train into the path of a Northeast Corridor passenger train... These days
> it's all about having exclusive use of your tracks, and while maybe
earlier
> that would not have been the case I can't see that until around 1965
things
> would have been suitable to that, and probably not even then. The Pennsy
> quit their commuter service in... 1963 I think and I can't see why they'd
> want PAT on their rails after that. If they did it would be "give us
money,
> let us run trains". And they didn't even seem to be overly enthused with
> that!

True. But it has worked in San Diego. Plus there is a PAT busway along a
railroad corridor on the East End. The tracks there have been reduced from
three
or four down to one. You are correct, litigation has ruined everything.

Ken J.