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(erielack) Port Morris Intermodal?

From an article in July '85 Trains: In 1983 and '84, Monroe cty and
Venturail were trying to raise $6.6M to purchase the Cutoff. BiModal Corp,
which was providing RoadRailer equipment to Conrail for an overnight
NY-Rochester/Buffalo service, planned to build a terminal in Port Morris for
RoadRailer service to Bfo. However the Cutoff funding was $2M short, and
Bimodal's operation was terminated. From what I know about the area, NIMBY
opposition to a new IM terminal would be considerable.

Paul B

Ed Montgomery wrote:


> One thing I have always wondered about was the way EL and CR neglected
> the use of Port Morris as an intermodal terminal.  It was probably too
> early to consider in those years but I have seen what NS did
> with a few
> tracks in Alexandria in their Thoroughbred Service.  Port Morris could
> have been a great place for distributing in the Northern New Jersey
> area.

Actually, this is a very intriguing idea. Today, they could put the
intermodal terminal in Port Morris and just truck the trailers to the
NYC-area markets. Of course, the property values being what they are in
Northern NJ, would that be cost-effective?



> Another location for this could have been and still
> could be the
> flood plane area off of the Totowa Spur along the new road
> that extends
> from Riverview Drive to Route 23.  Substantial freight
> movement could be
> generated without the need of the Boonton through Paterson.  It could
> still work.


You'd have to do a whole lotta fill and put in a good drainage system before
contemplating something like this, but yes, you're right. Might be a bit
cramped for a terminal there, with all the industry/warehouses around there.

One issue for today would be the fact that a lot of intermodal is now
double-stacked, and you have the issues of clearance. That might kill the
idea of the Totowa terminal (but probably not the Port Morris one)

- - Paul



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