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The new signal is part of a project to replace the code line on the route. All I can say is the faster the better, right now as it is, the dispatcher can only line one signal at a time. The line also goes into code fail anytime a small storm goes through. The project will go into full swing in the spring of 08.
As for the future of the line, lets look at it in the sections you describe. Right now east of Grand Rapids there are 10 to 12 coal trains a week going from Porter to the power plant at West Olive. These are 18000 ton monsters that require a push at Helper, a neat little operation. Word around the office is that the plant will be expanded soon, and that coal traffic will double. There is also a ethanol plant planned between Riverside and Kirk, that will add couple of trains a week. There is a good amount of local business at Holland, so much so that a daily road job is stationed there. There is also 1 Amtrak that goes each way a day. One of the killer things about a Chicago to Grand Rapids routing, is that as it is now traffic needs to go over the NS trackage from East Curtis to Porter. The NS is not known for taking trains right away. Now, I have heard that CSX wants to put in a diamond at Porter, to connect to the Porter branch, and has even bought land at Porter for this construction. If that is true I do not know. However I think that the West Olive coal traffic alone will keep this track around for long time.
East of Grand Rapids is a different story. Right now there are two trains each way a day from Grand Rapids for both Toledo and Detroit. As for local traffic there is a small coal plant at the MSU campus in East Lansing. It gets switched a couple times a week. There are two large grain elevators, one at Grand Ledge, and one at Weberville. Lansing gets a little traffic, along with numerous small industrys between Grand Rapids and Fox.
Traffic that travels the entire line from Porter to Plymouth is a pretty light. Right now there is CP hauledge train ,X500, that runs five days a week. There is also the occasional coal train or rock train that runs from Chicago to the SBS at Flint. If and when a diamond gets put back in at Porter, I think there is a future for this line.
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