CSX train Q359 is about to pass beneath the Main Street bridge on Track No. 2 on June 22, 2012. Track No. 2 was lowered beneath the bridge earlier this year.
Workers began the process of lowering Track No. 1 in Kent last week. As was the case when the same work was done on Track No. 2, crews from R.J. Corman removed sections of Track No. 1 and placed then aside.
Other crews began digging out the ballast in preparation for chipping away the underlying bedrock and soil structure. The work is part of a larger project to lower the former Baltimore & Ohio mainline through Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland so that it can accomodate double-stacked container trains.
CSX in early 2011 opened a container sorting facility at North Baltimore, Ohio. The clearance projects in Ohio are part of the development of the railroad’s National Gateway project.
Other work to lower the tracks is currently progressing in downtown Akron and in Medina County where the old one-lane bridge carrying River Corners Road over the former B&O will be removed and replaced.
The River Corners Road project involves realigning the intersection of River Corners and Simcox roads, and the removal of the Pawnee Road bridge over the tracks. Pawnee Road will be permanently closed at the railroad tracks. During the construction work, US 224 will be closed and a detour posted from June 25 until mid November.
Photographs by Craig Sanders
The power for D750 passes eastbound through Kent on June 22. Note that Track No. 1 has been temporarily removed as workers lower the roadbed through town.
Tags: CSX, CSX in Kent Ohio, CSX National Gateway network, CSX New Castle Subdivision, Kent Ohio, The National Gateway
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