Amtrak Southwest Chief Discussion

west point wrote:Does the area being upgraded have any freight traffic ? If not reclaimed CWR is a very good use of rail no longer suitable for heavy freight traffic. Will last for ever under just light weight cars SWC traffic

Yes, empty coal and grain trains are sent this way along with the occasional load. There is also a Kansas City to Denver train (HDENKCK and HKCKDEN) that goes this way.

This sub is used as a "relief" route for the former CB&Q mainline in Ne and Co when there's flooding along that route.

City updated on Southwest Chief route, Big Pool repairs -- Garden City Telegram

Rail improvements along Amtrak’s Southwest Chief route will begin this week on about 10 miles of track between Holcomb and Deerfield.

The track is being replaced in that segment, and seven track switches will be completed, along with two road crossings west of the area.

“They’ve got two (rail) gangs working on the project, so they think they’ll be able to get everything done this fall before Thanksgiving,” City Engineer Steve Cottrell said.

The Southwest Chief is a long-distance Amtrak passenger service that operates daily between Chicago and Los Angeles. Deteriorating track conditions along the route led the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad to downgrade speeds along the route, and Amtrak officials to consider discontinuing passenger service along it.

Cottrell said once the rail work is done, BNSF will lift the speed restrictions and allow Amtrak to once again run at 79 mph.

SW Chief gets $15.2M grant -- The Pueblo Chieftain

A $15.2 million federal grant to repair some of the worst sections of the Southwest Chief passenger train route through three states has been approved.

Phase 2 of the project will cost $24.5 million and will include improvements in Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico so that Amtrak rail service can continue.

Phase 1, a $22 million project began recently to replace bad sections of rail in Kansas and Colorado. Last week, local officials celebrated the $8 million contract for the steel rail won by EVRAZ steel mill in Pueblo.

Klein said about $30 million is needed to complete the entire three-state project. The strategy is to repair the worst sections of track first in order to allow passenger trains to travel at speeds of up to 80 mph.

As far as I can tell, this is additional funding on top what's already been appropriated for the work that began a week or two ago.

At least 1 more puzzle piece is in place,might see some work extras over the fall/winter months,dropping supplies
along the route for next season's trackwork,a small "filler piece" announcing the "TIGER" Grant was on tonight's
10:00 news. http://www.kob.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well, "its official", this route is never going to die now. At least now there's an incremental investment model in place for capital improvements with cost burden sharing between the states and the federal government.

I'd like to know where the money will come from for the on-going maintenance that will be required.

This is great news.
This route has long needed rehab and should remain in the national interest, much like any interstate highway, even if it serves a sparsley-populated area.
The government wouldn't allow a rural section of interstate highway to deteriorate, after all.

Here are some vitals:
http://1.usa.gov/1WkyVHt

Excerpt: Project Description Colorado and New Mexico. This TIGER grant will provide funding to the City of La Junta to continue the rehabilitation of the BNSF La Junta Subdivision, which began after the community received a 2014 TIGER VI award.

The project adds approximately 39 miles of new rail and repairs over 20 miles of roadbed.
The project will help sustain Amtrak’s Southwest Chief Service, which provides critical passenger transportation for the rural communities along its route. The segments are located between Waldo, New Mexico and Garden City, Kansas, passing through portions of Colorado. All work will occur on existing operational railroad right-of-way.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS AND BENEFITS:
The project will increase both passenger and freight operating velocities.
Passenger travel time savings will be 15 to 30 minutes per trip initially, growing to approximately 70 minutes by the end of construction.

On the Albuquerque Subdivision, travel times savings will be approximately 18 minutes. The resulting earlier arrivals will provide time to clean and repair equipment, reducing maintenance costs by $4.7 to $6.4 million over 20 years.

Attached pic from
http://www.railroadforums.com/photos/sh ... 565&page=3

That pic was near Shoemaker NM,most of the ties in this area are sunbaked,as is the entire streach from
Las Vegas NM to Raton.
Waldo is a barely used passing siding on NMRX's ABQ sub to Lamy,a Ghost Town,and the former Jct to the
Madrid Branch used to reach coal mines at Madrid NM.

Don-man wrote:This is great news.

... to continue the rehabilitation of the BNSF La Junta Subdivision, which began after ... a 2014 TIGER VI award.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS AND BENEFITS:
...
Passenger travel time savings will be 15 to 30 minutes per trip initially ... 70 minutes by the end of construction.

On the Albuquerque Subdivision, travel times savings will be approximately 18 minutes. The resulting earlier arrivals will provide time to clean and repair equipment, reducing maintenance costs by $4.7 to $6.4 million over 20 years.

Total time savings of 88 minutes!

I guess this restores the speeds and times before maintenance stopped and the trains had to slow.

On the current timetable, for passengers the departure and arrival times in Chicago, Kansas City, and L.A. look good. The WB arrival in Flagstaff (Grand Canyon) is good.

The EB arrival in Flagstaff is very bad, 4:36 AM. Arriving an hour and a half later, after a later departure from L.A., could be great.

Would have been nice to have a California Zephyr on the Southern Transcon, but it's good to see the Chief getting a more assured future. I very much enjoyed my trip KCS - LMY several years back, and would love to do the entire CHI - LAX trip someday.

The upside here is that this decision is going to make it much easier to justify long term capital improvements at station facilities along the route.

Officals from NMDOT,BNSF,and Herzog were reported to be at Lamy,looking around,planning upgrades to the track and platforms
at the station ,also installing power switches at Lamy,controlled by the NMRX DS or BNSF DS 18.

Backshophoss wrote:Officals from NMDOT,BNSF,and Herzog were reported to be at Lamy,looking around,planning upgrades to the track and platforms
at the station ,also installing power switches at Lamy,controlled by the NMRX DS or BNSF DS 18.

The dividing line between BNSF and NMRX is MP 834 which is just east of CP East Lamy. The switches at East and West Lamy are hand operated spring switches with controlled signals that tell the train to go straight or take the siding. The signals at both ends of Lamy siding are controlled by BNSF DS18. While NMRX does maintain the switches and signals at Lamy, they are content for now to let BNSF dispatch it. The platforms could use an upgrade to better meet ADA regs and there currently is a 10MPH speed restriction on both the main and the siding at the station.

The scheduled meeting point between A3 and A4 is at Fox siding which is to the east of Lamy.

Speaking of Lamy, why is it still an Amtrak stop? The Santa Fe Southern has ceased operations as far as I know, Lamy itself is a ghost town, and there is daily service along the New Mexico Rail Runner just a bit further west. I do love the station, but it seems redundant when the Chief could just stop at Bernalillo (larger city, suburban to Albuquerque) or Kiwa Pueblo (closest to Santa Fe.) At least it could be a flag stop.