Largely akin to Interstate highways, Interstate Rail Lines have the highest volumes and are the best maintained and engineered in the region. The longest and the fastest moving freight trains operate on these lines. Trains on these lines are owned and operated by Class I carriers, the nation’s highest classification of railroad.

Secondary or branch lines are vital rail freight lines with a decidedly local twist. At the map level, these lines appear to “dead-end” within the region or in communities just outside the region. In reality, secondary and branch lines (as their names imply) function much like arterial highways: they provide the necessary link between the busy interstate rail lines and large industries like refineries and steel mills, short line railroads, and other local rail generators.

Like NHS highway connectors, Industrial Tracks and Shortlines provide last-mile/first-mile access for many rail movements. Industrial Tracks and Shortlines typically handle shorter trains at slow speeds, while providing direct service to as many customers as possible along the line.

In the DVRPC region, three providers of passenger rail service own rail lines on which freight railroads have trackage rights: SEPTA, Amtrak, and NJ Transit. The most high profile of these lines from a passenger perspective is the two Amtrak lines, the Northeast Corridor and the Keystone Corridor. They serve passenger service in a similar fashion as the Interstate Rail Lines serve freight. There are also examples in the region where passenger and freight share the same right of way, but have their own separate tracks.

Notes about this layer:

• A user may click on a rail line at any point to display an information window with details about a specified segment of the rail line. Rail lines are segmented at strategic locations to reflect nuances such as ownership, trackage rights, activity, and number of tracks.

In the DVRPC region, there are 29 highway-railroad grade crossings along Class I Interstate rail lines. Because of the high train volumes, speeds, and carloads, these 29 locations are important in terms of train and vehicular operations. Of the four primary lines, the Philadelphia Subdivision has the most highway-railroad grade crossings, 12, while the Harrisburg Line has eight, the Trenton Subdivision has seven, and the Morrisville Line has two.

All highway-railroad grade crossings in the United States, public or private, both at-grade and separated, are required by law to have a DOT Crossing Inventory Number. For at-grade crossings, the number should be posted at the crossing. A crossing inventory number contains six digits followed by a letter (e.g., #140641S).

Many federal, state, local, and private entities play a role in grade crossing safety and maintenance. One initiative of note is Operation Lifesaver which is a nonprofit organization devoted to increasing the safety at highway-railroad grade crossings through public education.

Notes about this layer:

• Users can click on any grade crossing icon on the map to display information about that grade crossing. In the information window, a link to a highly detailed U.S. DOT Crossing Inventory Information report for the grade crossing is also provided.

A rail yard is an intricate series of railroad tracks designed for storing and sorting railroad cars. Rail yards generally have multiple parallel tracks for keeping rail cars separated from the main line, so that they do not obstruct the flow of through trains. The number of tracks and the total length of these tracks determine a rail yard’s capacity.

Rail yards have two primary purposes: storage and switching. The storage purpose enables the rail yard to operate like a warehouse, storing cars for users until they are ready to be received. The switching purpose is used to arrange and sort rail cars. Within rail yards, railroad cars are usually moved around by specially designed yard switchers. Rail yards are generally defined by the technique used to arrange trains. One popular style is called a “hump yard,” where freight cars are pushed by yard locomotives over a constructed hill, and then gravity is used to propel the cars to various sorting tracks.

The DVRPC region has 21 rail yards located at strategic points. Yards are often located near major rail interchanges so that classification for multiple rail lines can take place in one yard. For example, Pavonia Yard, located in Camden, collects carloads and sorts them into trains for many different rail lines in Southern New Jersey. Rail yards may also be located near major customers, such as in Trainer, PA, where the Stony Creek Rail Yard stores tanker cars for two local refineries.

The most prevalent rail cars found in rail yards are:

• Boxcars
• Gondolas / Hopper cars
• Tank cars

Notes about this layer:

• A user can click on any rail yard icon in the map to display additional information. As a user zooms in towards an individual rail yard, the land associated with it will also be highlighted. A user may click on the highlighted land to display the same information as clicking on the icon.
• In the rail yard information window, there is a link to a Freight Center Profile if the rail yard is located within a designated Freight Center.

Intermodal Rail is an official term used by the rail industry to describe the operation of transporting trailers and containers by rail. At Intermodal Rail Facilities, trailers and containers are shifted directly from truck to rail, and vice versa. There are three Intermodal Rail Facilities in the region. The largest is the Greenwich Intermodal Facility which is owned and operated by CSX and located in the heart of the DVRPC freight transportation network in South Philadelphia. Norfolk Southern owns two Intermodal Facilities, a Morrisville facility located in Falls Township, Bucks County, and a Mustin Field Facility located in South Philadelphia.

Intermodal Rail Facilities are served by trains which travel primarily on Interstate Rail Lines. When possible the containers on these trains are placed on top of each other, called “double stacking,” in order to gain as many efficiencies as possible. Because of this practice the rail lines serving these facilities must have sufficient vertical clearance, ideally at least 20’ 2”, in order to accommodate double stack movements.

While those are the only three facilities that directly serve what in the industry is known as intermodal rail, there are other rail facilities that are intermodal in nature. For example, the Twin Oaks Auto Facility, which is owned by CSX, moves completed cars into the facility by train and out by auto carrying trucks.

Transload Facilities are also intermodal in the broader sense. Transload Facilities use a variety of equipment to move goods between rail cars and trucks (e.g., chemicals are pumped between the two modes using hoses). While at intermodal facilities, every container or trailer is associated with a single truck move, the rail cars at transload facilities can produce a large number of truck movements. Generally, rail cars carrying bulk materials are stored in these yards and trucks can drive up and access the product. Some popular products for transload facilities include chemicals, plastic pellets, and food grade products.

Notes about this layer:

• A user can click on any Intermodal Rail Facility icon in the map to display additional information about that facility. As a user zooms in towards an individual facility, the land associated will be highlighted. A user may click on the highlighted land to display the same information as clicking on the icon.
• If the Intermodal Rail Facility is located in a Freight Center, then there is a link to that Freight Center Profile provided in the information box.

Ten important freight rail bridges in the region are identified in the PhillyFreightFinder application. These bridges are located on the designated Interstate Rail Lines and span either the Delaware River or the Schuylkill River.

The following three bridges span the Delaware River and connect Pennsylvania and New Jersey within the Delaware Valley:

• The Delair Bridge is a lift bridge (i.e., a portion of the span lifts vertically to allow ships to pass underneath) which provides the only heavy rail connection between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. Virtually all of the South Jersey freight rail traffic travels over the Delair Bridge, as well as New Jersey Transit passenger service to and from Atlantic City.
• The West Trenton Railroad Bridge is part of the CSX Trenton Subdivision. The West Trenton Bridge also carries SEPTA trains which terminate at the West Trenton station.
• The Morrisville-Trenton Railroad Bridge is a stone arch bridge serving the Northeast Corridor and carries mainly passenger trains.

The additional seven rail freight bridges in PhillyFreightFinder span the Schuylkill River.

Notes about this layer:

• A user can click on any Rail Line River Crossing icon on the map to display additional information about that bridge.