Mon Line

Mon Line
Overview
Type Freight rail
System Norfolk Southern
Status Operational
Locale southwestern Pennsylvania
Termini CP-BELL in Pittsburgh
Near Waynesburg
Operation
Opened 1872
Owner
Operator(s) Norfolk Southern
Technical
Line length 85 mi (137 km)
Number of tracks 1-2[1]
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Route map

 Fort Wayne Line
 Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge
 Pittsburgh & Ohio Central Railroad
 Forks of the Ohio
 Monongahela River
Homestead
Union Railroad
via yard
 Port Perry Branch
 West Brownsville Junction Bridge
West Brownsville
street running

The Mon Line is an 85-mile long[2] Norfolk Southern rail line which runs along the Monongahela River for most of its route.[3]

History

The predecessor of this line is the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railroad. The northern portion (Pittsburgh to West Brownsville) of the line is the former main line of the Monongahela Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the southern portion (West Brownsville to Waynesburg) was once part of the Monongahela Railway's Waynesburg Southern Branch.

Its northern terminus was formerly at the junction with the Panhandle Route at the Panhandle Bridge in Pittsburgh, and its southern terminus was near Brownsville, Pennsylvania where it had a connection to the Monongahela Railway.

Conrail transferred the West Brownsville to Waynesburg trackage from the Waynesburg Southern Branch to the former main line of the PRR Monongahela Division and it became the new Mon Line.

In the 1990s, the northern section of the Mon Line began to be used, together with the Port Perry Branch, as a high-clearance route for double-stack container trains.[4][5]

In 2016, a landslide occurred on the Mon Line at the foot of Mount Washington, on part of the line used for double-stack trains.[6] Due to the landslide, Norfolk Southern sought funding in 2017 in order to create an alternative double-stack route through Pittsburgh, using the Pittsburgh Line and the Fort Wayne Line.[7][8]

Route

The line begins at CP-BELL, at a junction with the Fort Wayne Line,[1] and then crosses the Ohio River on the Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge, and proceeds along the southern side of the Ohio and Monongahela rivers. The Port Perry Branch joins the line at the PRR Port Perry Bridge near Duquesne, Pennsylvania. There is a section of on-street running track in West Brownsville, Pennsylvania. The line ends near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.[1]

Usage

The Mon Line is used for high-clearance double stack container trains between the Fort Wayne Line and the Port Perry Branch,[4][5] which continues on to join the Pittsburgh Line to points further east. This bypasses the easternmost portion of the Fort Wayne Line and the westernmost part of the Pittsburgh Line,[3] which have clearance issues for double-stack trains as of 2016.

The line also serves coal mines south of Pittsburgh, including the Bailey Mine.[9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/NS/NS%20Track%20Charts/NS%20Pgh%20Division%20Track%20Chart%202012.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/news/norfolk-southern-supports-shippers-and-receivers-with-improvements-to-major-pennsylvania-rail-line--22-6-million-in-improvement-projects-completed-on-important-coal-line.html
  3. 1 2 Borkowski, Richard C. (2008). Norfolk Southern Railway. Voyageur Press. pp. 117–118. ISBN 9781616739553.
  4. 1 2 https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/pa2947.photos.357583p/
  5. 1 2 http://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa2900/pa2947/data/pa2947data.pdf
  6. ↑ https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/2016/07/02/pittsburgh-landslide-hindered-ns-mon-line/
  7. ↑ https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/ns-to-create-second-stack-route-in-pittsburgh/
  8. ↑ http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2017/04/25/Norfolk-Southern-double-stack-cars-20-million-pa-railroad-grant/stories/201704250052
  9. ↑ http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/shipping-options/coal/mine-operations-directory/bailey_pa.html
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