Rail-barge returns to operation in Virginia next month

Rail-barge returns to operation in Virginia next month    The Bay Coast Railroad plans to put its rail-barge back in service in two weeks after completing $1 million in repairs, Larry LeMond, vice president of operations, said.
   The short-line railroad comprises 60 miles of mainline track between Pocomoke, Md., and Cape Charles, Va., plus about nine miles of track from the vicinity of Virginia Beach to Norfolk. The rail lines are connected by a car float that operates across 26 miles of water between the eastern and western shores of the Chesapeake Bay. The Bay Coast Railroad interchanges with the Norfolk Southern and the Portsmouth Beltline Railroad, another short line that provides terminal and mainline switching to Class I railroads in Norfolk and Portsmouth.
   The rail-barge, which can haul 20 to 25 railcars depending on their length and weight, left the Colonna shipyard in Norfolk on Monday and was towed to Cape Charles on the Eastern Shore, LeMond said. Workers are now re-installing rail track on the barge's deck.
   The railroad suspended the rail-barge operation in mid-2009 because the aging vessel had severely corroded.
   LeMond said the barge operation will be ready for service around Dec. 10. Typical commodities transported by the car float include chemicals, grain, cement, concrete structures, stone, brick, fertilizer, and liquefied propane gas. During the past year, shippers had to truck products through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel or route rail shipments back on the Norfolk Southern through Maryland and back down through Virginia to Hampton Roads.
      The Bay Coast Railroad plans to market its capability to handle project cargo to Orbital Sciences, which is in charge of launching satellites into orbit from NASA's space flight center at Wallops Island on Virginia's Eastern Shore, LeMond said.   
   Rocket sections are currently being shipped into the Port of Wilmington, Del., and transported by truck to the facility. ' Eric Kulisch