The former Delaware & Hudson (D&H) rail yard near the Watervliet Arsenal in Colonie, New York, USA - 6 Aug 2012 Philip Kamrass.

6 August 2012

Canadian Pacific is Working on the Railroad

Colonie New York USA - Brush and debris will be cleared from the former Delaware & Hudson Railway (D&H) yards just west of the Watervliet city line, abandoned rail cars will be removed and three siding tracks will be doubled in length to 3,000 square feet, according to Canadian Pacific Railway, which owns the property.
 
The work will be completed by early October, said Ed Greenberg, a spokesman for Canadian Pacific.
 
He declined to say how much CP was spending on the project. CP in recent years has considered the area a storage area.
 
The improvements will allow CP to park trains destined for facilities in and around the Port of Albany while allowing through trains, the yard currently handles eight a day, to pass on the main track.
 
The local trains would move from the yard to their destinations "as soon as possible," Greenberg said in an email. "These trains will not be stored at Colonie Yard. They will only be there for a short period of less than 24 hours until they can be placed back on the main line."
 
CP said it also would remove brush and debris from the interior portion of the yard, while leaving shrubs and trees in place along the exterior, where it acts as a buffer between the yard and surrounding roads and neighborhoods.
 
Several abandoned and vandalized rail cars, including an old switch engine and New York Central passenger car, also will be removed.
 
Greenberg said fencing would be erected at the southern end of the yard.
 
The rail line, which was reduced from a double track to a single track nearly two decades ago to accommodate wider cargoes being shipped from the Schenectady General Electric Co. plant to the Port of Albany, is a main route from the Capital Region to Montreal.
 
The work isn't related to a separate proposal by CSX that would have its freight traffic destined for Montreal to travel over the CP trackage north of Albany.
 
CSX freight destined for Montreal and Quebec now travels west to Syracuse, then north through Watertown and into Canada. Using the CP route would cut the distance traveled by 35 percent and the travel time by 45 percent, according to a regulatory filing.
 
Eric Anderson.