Bill Stephens writes in the December issue of Trains a very good analysis of what is required from track, signaling, dispatching and supervision to keep Amtrak 3 and 4 on time.
I have a very personal connection with this after having been a survey Party Chief with Santa Fe’s Engineering Dept. when Santa Fe was upgrading this railroad that was built in 1882-1885. Yes, I am proud of what we accomplished and what was done after I retired.
Tools (two tracks, cross-overs every ten miles) are useless without a craftsman that knows how to use them and bosses that will let them. This is often where other railroads drop the ball.
Some still need better tools to make it work and that takes money. You were lucky to be able to supply those tools.
Mike282? My birthdate is 2-08-1932. Do we have a connection?
But people cost money. Think of the shareholders! /s
The Southern Transcon only has the SWC to deal with for the most part. What if the SWC had 3 round trips per day instead of 1? A pair of pass trains is easier to deal with. When you get multiple pass trains the scenario changes. BNSF probably can’t fit any more pass trains without adding some sections of 3MT or more… It’s the speed that eats capacity.
They also do a decent job with the Empire Builder California Zephyr all the California traffic in the inland Empire plus the Illinois traffic they have. It’s called the BNSF isn’t beholden to the shareholders that want maximum profits from each dollar of revenue. Also they still believe in speed over tonnage on trains for the most part.
BNSF is a piker when it comes to the volume of Amtrak they handle.
But when you see what they do with the Chicago racetrack and Metra’s commuter traffic, they perform very well. Amtrak has four trains that are also in that mix.
I formerly commuted on that line.
They’ve got all of 38 miles of CTC triple track. That’s the commuter line. 38 miles. They can do a whole lot with that on those 38 miles.
Try it on a single track line and there are real problems.
We aren’t talking about METRA.
If you are, however, CSX also has to deal with VRE, MARC and MBTA and all their daily rush hour trains in addition to Amtrak.
CSX also sold track segments from West Palm Beach to Miami to South Florida for the Tri-Rail commuter system between those points, after operating that service for over 20 years, as well as a segment of tha A Line for Sun Rail to originate and operate their commuter system.
Make that eight: Two SWCs, two CZs, and four state-sponsored runs.
Did you mean California Zephyers & not Empire Builders?
BNSF handles the EB west of St Paul…
Fixing it. Sorry, and thanks!
I was talking about the racetrack between Chicago and Aurora. Shadow brought up the Empire Builder which uses CP and Metra North (formerly C&NW/UP) between Minneapolis & Chicago. And yes, I said four trains but since each train makes a round trip, it is eight trips. And as for CSX and VRE, I think that it shows what CAN be done when the motivation to cooperate is present. When one party doesn’t want to cooperate, things go sour. We all remember when a parent tells a child to eat something they don’t want to eat.
In the CSX/VRE/Amtrak ‘cooperation’ shows what can be done when there are ‘come to Jesus’ meetings between ranking CSX Officials and ranking political personnel of both the State of Virginia and the US Government.
At one point in time CSX had a senior operating official that didn’t give a flying flip at a rolling confectionary about operating trains with people anywhere near the scheduled time - right up until he participated in said ‘come to Jesus’ meeting. His attitude changed a immediate 180 degrees.
Train Dispatchers can implement any kind of operating plan the company wants run - they can delay passenger trains if that is what the company wants or they can have them run freely - pay your money, take your choice.
I think Canadian Pacific does and excellent job as well as BNSF.
DS8 handles the territory between Rico Puerco-Lupton. This stretch of the Gallup Su where much of the sorting of traffic takes place. By not having to deal directly w/the terminal @ Belen, helps a great amount.
I was an alum Gallup Sub nine yrs, working local board 15 @ Gallup, and seen it happen.
Sam
What was the thing (motivater) that caused him to change his mind?
He met Jesus - in the form of State of Virginia officials and US government officials that he knew had the power to make CSX’s life with those agencies absolute hell on a daily and continuing basis.
When the guys whose jobs have letters that are FRA USDOT NTSB and they are riding the trains that you’re refusing to run properly they can and will get even with in worse ways than you can imagine. Just imagine how badly the FRA could hammer a railroad on safety or track releated issues on an inspection if they’re told no leeway from the big bosses.