SHAMOKIN - The newest safety upgrade at a city railroad crossing should serve as fair warning well in advance of the next train to pass through Shamokin, where increased rail traffic is on the horizon.
Safety signals were hung on a pair of large cantilevers erected Monday and Tuesday along Walnut Street to the rear of Weis Markets. The framework of metal tubing stretches across the street and dramatically changes the landscape in the area.
When the project is completed within the next two
weeks, it will mark the first of four upgrades on crossings that have the heaviest pedestrian traffic in the city, said Jeff Stover, executive director of SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority, Lewisburg.
"At one time it had flashing lights," he said of the Walnut Street crossing. "It's a bit dangerous because it's a heavily used street with Weis there," he said.
"This really works better and is much more visible," he added.
More upgrades mean more traffic
The crossing at Market Street will be upgraded later this year, with projects to follow on Independence and Shamokin streets in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Exactly how the safety signals will be hung at those crossings - be it with cantilevers or masts, which are signals erected on a upright pole and are less visible than a cantilever - will be determined by the Public Utility Commission, Stover said.
An upgrade at the crossing at Rock and Independence streets has already been completed. Additional upgrades at lower priority crossings could occur as funding becomes available, Stover said.
The rail upgrades, funded with federal grant money, represent a rejuvenation for the Shamokin Valley line, operated by North Shore Railroad Company.
Just 203 rail cars traveled the line in 2009, Stover said. Last year, that volume increased to 370. In the near future, he said some 200 rail cars will pass through Shamokin each month; that tempers previous estimates of 1,000, Stover saying that figure would be more of a maximum than an average at this time.
The increased traffic has been attributed to developments at TimberEnd on Route 901 in Coal Township, a wood-processing company owned by Ken Deitrick.
"It was not an abandoned railroad," Stover said of the Shamokin Valley line, which stretches 27 miles from Sunbury to Mount Carmel. "The most easterly customer is Shamokin Filler and the trains go up Carbon Run. There was very little rail traffic from Weis toward the eastern end of town."
SEEDCO project
In 2010, a $1 million project was announced for the construction of a 1,500-foot runaround and a 2,000-foot siding to serve TimberEnd and, eventually, any future tenants of Coal Township-SEEDCO Industrial Park. That project continues and is funded separately from the crossings upgrades in Shamokin.
Deitrick also owns Disposal Management Services, a waste hauling business, and is in the process of building a waste transfer facility in Ranshaw named in permits as PA Waste Transfer LLC.
In addition to Shamokin Filler, the Shamokin Valley line also serves Clark's Feed Mills, Weigh Scales, Sealed Air Corp., Paxinos, Anthracite Industries, near Sunbury, and Drug Plastics and Glass Co., Shamokin Township.