Railroad Forums 

  • New Right Of Way

  • For topics on Class I and II passenger and freight operations more general in nature and not specifically related to a specific railroad with its own forum.
For topics on Class I and II passenger and freight operations more general in nature and not specifically related to a specific railroad with its own forum.

Moderator: Jeff Smith

 #1400139  by EuroStar
 
I have been wondering when was the last time a Class I laid 5 miles or more on completely new right of way that had not hosted rail tracks ever before? I am aware of much double tracking where a second track was added or relaid after decades of not being there, but how about completely new right of way? The 5 miles number is arbitrary, but I want to exclude minor extensions of which there are probably plenty. In the public transportation space the only one that I am aware of to has laid 5 miles of rail where no track has been ever before is Denver.
 #1400271  by rr503
 
Probably the lines into the PRB in WY, or the Mt Macdonald tunnel in BC.
I could be wrong though...
 #1400750  by EuroStar
 
Wow, that is more than I would have expected...but even then both of these are in the middle of nowhere. Not surprising as the NIMBYs have gotten better over time so anything even in rural areas has no chance.
 #1400850  by YamaOfParadise
 
EuroStar wrote:Wow, that is more than I would have expected...but even then both of these are in the middle of nowhere. Not surprising as the NIMBYs have gotten better over time so anything even in rural areas has no chance.
It's significantly more than just that: the amount of land developed is significantly up, and as extension, it's much more expensive. That's something that makes it unattractive even before you take into consideration of NIMBYism.
 #1400875  by The EGE
 
mtuandrew wrote:Another recent heavy (FRA jurisdiction) rail project is the Point Defiance bypass, which begins and ends on BNSF track but is a Washington State project designed to help Sounder and Amtrak trains.
I believe that's all on existing ROW, though.
 #1401356  by The EGE
 
Ex-NP, actually. But as far as I can tell, all of its was active freight ROW before this project.