Mon Line

The Mon Line is an 85-mile long[2] Norfolk Southern rail line which runs along the Monongahela River for most of its route.[3]

Mon Line
A double-stack container train on the Mon Line in South Side, Pittsburgh.
Overview
Type	Freight rail
System	Norfolk Southern
Status	Operational
Locale	southwestern Pennsylvania
Termini	CP-BELL in Pittsburgh Near Waynesburg
Operation
Opened	1872
Owner	Norfolk Southern (from 1999) Conrail (until 1999) Penn Central (until 1976) Pennsylvania Railroad (until 1968) Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railway (until 1905)
Operator(s)	Norfolk Southern
Technical
Line length	85 mi (137 km)
Number of tracks	1-2[1]
Track gauge	4 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Route map Fort Wayne Line Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge CSX Pittsburgh Subdivision Pittsburgh & Ohio Central Railroad Allegheny River AVRR W&P Subdivision Homestead Union Railroad via yard Union Railroad Port Perry Bridge Port Perry Branch Union Railroad Union Railroad W&LE Clairton Branch Shire Oaks Yard Ellsworth Secondary W&LE Speers Railroad Bridge CSX Mon Subdivision West Brownsville Junction Bridge Loveridge Secondary West Brownsville street running Monongahela River Manor Branch to Bailey Mine Waynesburg Southern Branch

History

The predecessor of this line is the Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railroad. The northern portion (Pittsburgh to West Brownsville) of the line is the former main line of the Monongahela Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the southern portion (West Brownsville to Waynesburg) was once part of the Monongahela Railway's Waynesburg Southern Branch.

Its northern terminus was formerly at the junction with the Panhandle Route at the Panhandle Bridge in Pittsburgh, and its southern terminus was near Brownsville, Pennsylvania where it had a connection to the Monongahela Railway.

Conrail transferred the West Brownsville to Waynesburg trackage from the Waynesburg Southern Branch to the former main line of the PRR Monongahela Division and it became the new Mon Line.

In the 1990s, the northern section of the Mon Line began to be used, together with the Port Perry Branch, as a high-clearance route for double-stack container trains.[4][5]

In 2016, a landslide occurred on the Mon Line at the foot of Mount Washington, on part of the line used for double-stack trains.[6] Due to the landslide, Norfolk Southern sought funding in 2017 in order to create an alternative double-stack route through Pittsburgh, using the Pittsburgh Line and the Fort Wayne Line.[7][8]

Route

The line begins at CP-BELL, at a junction with the Fort Wayne Line,[1] and then crosses the Ohio River on the Ohio Connecting Railroad Bridge, and proceeds along the southern side of the Ohio and Monongahela rivers. The Port Perry Branch joins the line at the PRR Port Perry Bridge near Duquesne, Pennsylvania. There is a section of on-street running track in West Brownsville, Pennsylvania. The line ends near Waynesburg, Pennsylvania.[1]

Usage

The Mon Line is used for high-clearance double stack container trains between the Fort Wayne Line and the Port Perry Branch,[4][5] which continues on to join the Pittsburgh Line to points further east. This bypasses the easternmost portion of the Fort Wayne Line and the westernmost part of the Pittsburgh Line,[3] which have clearance issues for double-stack trains as of 2016.

The line also serves coal mines south of Pittsburgh, including the Bailey Mine.[9]

See also

• Fort Wayne Line
• Port Perry Branch
• Pittsburgh, Virginia and Charleston Railroad
• Monongahela Railway
• Pennsylvania Railroad

References

1. http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/railroads/companies/NS/NS%20Track%20Charts/NS%20Pgh%20Division%20Track%20Chart%202012.pdf
2. http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/news/norfolk-southern-supports-shippers-and-receivers-with-improvements-to-major-pennsylvania-rail-line--22-6-million-in-improvement-projects-completed-on-important-coal-line.html
3. Borkowski, Richard C. (2008). Norfolk Southern Railway. Voyageur Press. pp. 117–118. ISBN 9781616739553.
4. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/pa2947.photos.357583p/
5. http://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa2900/pa2947/data/pa2947data.pdf
6. https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/2016/07/02/pittsburgh-landslide-hindered-ns-mon-line/
7. https://akronrrclub.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/ns-to-create-second-stack-route-in-pittsburgh/
8. http://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2017/04/25/Norfolk-Southern-double-stack-cars-20-million-pa-railroad-grant/stories/201704250052
9. http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/shipping-options/coal/mine-operations-directory/bailey_pa.html