Sunday, September 17th, 2005 at 09:20 EDT
Effective Thursday, September 1st, 2005, Canadian Pacific closed their intermodal terminal at Oak Island Yard in Newark, NJ. The reason cited for closing the facility was that the business never developed enough to justify the costs. Additionally, the intermodal business never rebounded after the 1996 flood at Solomon's Gap, PA. During this period Canadian Pacific gave Conrail their intermodal traffic to move while the Lehigh Line was being rebuilt. Canadian Pacific subsequently lost most of this traffic to Conrail. Concurrent with this closing, Canadian Pacific entered into an agreement with Norfolk Southern to handle their remaining intermodal business at Dockside, NJ. Norfolk Southern will now move this traffic between Dockside, NJ and Allentown, PA as a block on their existing network. This agreement is similar to the reciprocal operation which the two carriers have in effect between Harrisburg, PA and Philadelphia, PA where Canadian Pacific handles an intermodal block for Norfolk Southern between these two points. As a result, Canadian Pacific train 166 (Norfolk Southern symbol 38T) now terminates at Bethlehem, PA, while Canadian Pacific train 167 (Norfolk Southern symbol 39T) now originates at Bethlehem, PA. Canadian Pacific will now concentrate on handling bulk freight and the Transload America demolition debris traffic to and from Oak Island Yard in Newark, NJ. This traffic will now move in the form of a road local, symbolled as Canadian Pacific train D18 from Allentown, PA to Oak Island, NJ and as train D17 from Oak Island, NJ to Allentown, PA. It is still unclear what symbol Norfolk Southern will assign to these trains. These locals will run as needed, although it is expected that they will initially run close to the old three day per week schedule in order to connect with trains 166/167 at Bethlehem, PA. It is anticipated that this traffic will eventually connect to and from Canadian Pacific trains 410 and 411 at Allentown, PA. It is currently projected that the frequency of trains D17 and D18 will ultimately increase to five or six days per week in order to handle the expected increase in the lucrative construction and demolition debris business.