Track Lowering Continues in Kent

The lead engine of westbound Q137 passes a rolling machine as workers take a break to allow the intermodal train to pass.

Work is well underway in Kent to lower Track No. 1 of the CSX New Castle Subdivision. On Tuesday, July 10, workers were putting down the base for the roadbed after having chipped away the underlying bedrock to lower the track.

The work is part of a range of projects being done to lower the clearances on the former Baltimore & Ohio Railroad route between Chicago and Washington. D.C. The greater clearances will enable CSX to run double stack container trains to and from the East Coast over the route.

Most of those trains are expected to serve a container sorting facility that CSX opened in early 2011 west of North Baltimore, Ohio. It is all part of the development of the CSX National Gateway network.

Much of the work in Kent has involved removing the tracks and undercutting the roadbed beneath the Main Street and Wheeling & Lake Erie bridges. Track 1 has been temporarily removed and all trains are using Track No. 2. Earlier, Track No. 2 was lowered.

Similiar work is also being done in Akron and Ravennna. Two old one-lane bridges in Medina County are being removed and replaced with one bridge.

Photographs by Craig Sanders

A new concrete retaining wall has been poured between the CSX tracks and the Cuyahoga River. Shown is westbound Q015.

Track No. 1 has been cut and removed while work is done to lower the roadbed beneath the Main Street bridge. The track was stacked atop track that has remained in place. Westbound manifest freight Q389 passes the work site.

Tags: CSX, CSX in Kent Ohio, CSX National Gateway network, CSX New Castle Subdivision, CSX. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, main street bridge