[deja vu]

Originally Posted by NSC1109

Regarding the time-limit law: It's not enforceable. The City of Plymouth had a similar law on the books; when they tried to enforce it, CSX Transportation took them to court and won. As a result, it's generally seen as a waste of time to try to ticket the train crew.

There is no easy fix to this issue. An overpass design was floated back in the 70s but that's totally impractical now, thanks to the economic development near the tracks. It doesn't help that the wye track connecting the Michigan Line to the Grand Elk main is one of the tightest I've ever seen, requiring slow speeds in order to not derail. Additionally, the way the track is laid out is not conducive to an efficient operation. Back in the 20th century, there were multiple railroads operating in Kalamazoo, including giants Pennsylvania and New York Central (prior to that, Michigan Central was the operator as an NYC subsidiary). They both had routes going north/south. Now, both those routes remain, but the NYC one ends just north of the city limit near Mosel Ave. The PRR route continues all the way to GR. The Kalamazoo-GR manifest train has to back all the way out of the yard to CP Gibson (near Gibson Street), flip the switch, and then head north, blocking off downtown twice. During the time of Conrail and NS, they operated trains directly from the major yard in Elkhart to GR without having to stop in Kalamazoo. Any time a train took the wye in Kalamazoo, they were likely headed to or from the metro Detroit area. Until Grand Elk took over in 2009, there was never any need for a second wye. It wasn't a huge problem back during the early days, since the economic downturn dropped traffic levels dramatically. Grand Elk brought a lot of those customers back and then some, and now NS is back in the game, routing Jackson- and Battle Creek-bound cars via Grand Elk to be picked up by two different NS locals, one from Jackson and one from Battle Creek. Business is booming for the Elk, but the logistics of it need a major overhaul.

Thanks for the additional background / explanation of the history. I think you explained it better than I could.