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Cold Train to expand service to Portland
“… takes four to five days between Oregon and the Midwest.”
What are they powering that train with?
A pair of GP-7’s?
Seriously, what excuse does UP have for running a “priority” train at just above bicycle speed?
I will speculate here that it is a shame that Burlington Northern abandoned section of the old Great Northern and Northern Pacific lines. It would seem rational that they could have turned them into primarily one way routs which would reduce traffic routing a bunch.
While traveling the central and eastern states in a motor home from 1997 to 2005, I was always amazed how many UP trains I saw sitting on a siding while I rarely saw a BNSF sided. Don’t know what would have caused such a backlog for UP.
Mr. Vincent, I take your point, but the article did mention (when I went back to look for it) BNSF, not UP.
Actually, though, Amtrak does Portland to Chicago in about 3 days, so 4 for freight isn’t that bad. An 8-10,000 foot train probably needs longer servicing stops as well as not going as fast as a passenger train.
The article mentioned BNSF.