I don’t know if your magazine is aware of the problems BNSF is having on its Staples Subdivision in Minnesota. It was noted lately about the eastbound Empire Builder having problems with time keeping due to increased freight traffic, and that is clearly seen along this stretch of the BNSF system. I drive along this subdivision regularly and for the last month there have been trains parked for hours, sometimes all day, right on the mainline. This morning in the short distance from just south of Clear Lake, MN to St. Cloud there were three parked eastbound trains on the mainline and more eastbounds running past them on the other main track. This afternoon two of those eastbounds were still sitting in the same spot. It was also reported today the Northstar commuter rail was incurring delays of up to 30 minutes on the inbound morning trains because of freight traffic, and thus Northstar was routed on the “other” track. So at each station passengers had to go from one platform to the other. It would be curious to get some in depth reporting as to what is happening. For three weeks I have seen parked freight trains along this route.
You can watch what is happening from the Dispatchers perspective using the program ATCS Monitor and listen to the Twin Cities North Radio Stream over the Internet. The ATCS program and the necessary data files are available by joining the ATCS yahoogroup. The Twin Cities North radio stream is available at Broadcastify.com
The ATCS Data file for the BNSF Twin Cities area covers all the trackage from Becker, MN to Prescott, WI and the CP from Loretto, MN to Hastings, MN.
Two questions come to mind, one is why the BNSF Willmar line being used more? The other is if BNSF plans to double track again trackage north of Big Lake Minnesota? I have also noticed that there are trains wating to get into Northtown sometimes too in the suburb of Coon Rapids Minnesota. Freights coming down from Duluth often wait at 121st Street in Coon Rapids starring at a red signal; sometimes as long as two hours.
BN single tracked the line from Becker down to Coon Rapids in the 80’s, IIRC. Two main tracks were put back in as far up as Big Lake for the Northstar commuter service. If the state ever gets enough money to extend the Northstar service to St Cloud, the3 the ‘gap’ may get filled.
Jim
The cold weather hasn’t helped either. Between broken rails (especially here in the Twin Cities with all the combined BNSF, CP, CN, TCW…traffic on some routes), MOW crews spending lots of time clearing snow and lots of bad order cars being set out. If they make it thru the next week, things might ease up.
Jim:
The westward main track between Big Lake and Becker was removed in about 1985. Double track continued from Big Lake into Northtown as it still does. A BN Vice President named Bryan made a dumb more in ordering that 10 mile stretch to be removed. His goal was to single track every other tenth mile and CTC the whole works.
Now the BNSF wants North Star to pay for the double track restoration. BUT–there are strong rumors that the double track will be restored due to increased traffic. When the Big Lake North Star station was constructed, the trackage was reconfigured to move a transition from single to double track. Also, the crossing signal on the north side of the intersection was moved out in advance of a double track move.
There was an article in today’s (Friday) “Minneapolis Star Tribune” about the BNSF freights delaying North Star commuter trains.
I have the Staples Dispatcher on my scanner and two trains are being tied down west of Coon Rapids due to lack of room and hours of service.
Call if you want more info.
Ed Burns
763-234-9306
Jim:
Just a bit of history–when North Star was conceived about 2006, traffic was down a bit, thus the BNSF allowed the Met Council to build the infrastructure (CTC, crossovers, stations, etc. for North Star with the BNSF receiving government dollars for operating on the Staples Sub.
North Star started in 2009 with little delays and trains on time. About 2011, oil traffic started and has increased each year since.
Yesterday (Friday), the Staples Sub dispatcher had two eastbound trains tied down (Ferry Street in Anoka) and east or west of the Ramsey Station (Armstrong Blvd in Ramsey) waiting for relief crews.
Rather messy, but CTC does make it better.
Ed Burns
763-234-9306