IN news wire today it says that BNSF may be open to helping to contribute to the cost of Raton if a 5 way split is done between BNSF, Amtrak, and a bunch of localities.
Curious to see if BNSF would start routing any freight back over Raton if this is done…
Quite unlikely when you compare the grades on the Raton Pass route with those on the Southern Transcon.
Well I was thinking about traffic going from Denver area to LA because right now that traffic is also routed over southern transcon and Raton pass is much shorter geographically for that traffic… sure it’s not a lot, but maybe a train a day.
That’s possible, there is also talk of passenger trains between Denver and New Mexico. I believe that BNSF uses trackage rights on the UP old DRGW/SP route to Northern California for their Denver- LA traffic, which is the long way around, and they could avoid the trackage rights fees if they used their own lines.
[quote user=“DwightBranch”]
That’s possible, there is also talk of passenger trains between Denver and New Mexico. I believe that BNSF uses trackage rights on the UP old DRGW/SP route to Northern California for their Denver- LA traffic, which is the long way around, and they could avoid the trackage rights fees if they used their own lines.
Denver to LA traffic is minimal but it is routed to Amarillo and combined with other traffic for LA @ (Clovis?). Any Traffic from Denver for Phoenix is also routed to the Transcon at Amarillo and combined @ Clovis?
I, we, do not have sufficient info to analyze the BNSF’s revenue from Denver but it can be assumed that the folks in Ft. Worth have a defined plan which includes the many cost vs. revenue factors.
I know that Denver to LA traffic is minimal, and I’m guessing that for Denver to LA traffic it’s cheaper to route via Amarillo than for BNSF to foot the entire bill for Raton maintenance… but if BNSF can split the Raton maintenance bill 5 ways, perhaps then it will operate Denver to LA freight via Raton, as even though the grades are Raton are steep if that line is open and funded I’d bet that it’d be cheaper to run a train through Raton rather than Amarillo.
BNSF does have at least one train that runs over DRGW/Donner into Norcal. I’ve seen it in Roseville. These are trackage rights aquired in the UP/SP purchase.
I’m not sure this needed to be another thread with the topic of Raton being actively discussed in a thread hear and another in the Passenger forum, but I will say this. In the other thread I did say NEVER say NEVER!
One has to imagine that any stack traffic would require tunnel clearances to be raised.
In 1993 when the Santa Fe got a Contract to Supply York Canyon Coal to a Power Plant here in IL they had to use 6 C-40-8W’s to get Half a loaded train over Raton Pass then go back for the Other Half. That was the Last Major Eastbound raffic Source I even know about. There is no place for an Ethanol plant to go there No Feed lots for DDG’s to be shipped to no Drilling areas that need Pipe or Supplies so that line is really UNEEDED in the major sense and as a relief for a Bottleneck the grades are Way to steep for that. Why was the Super C put on there ONE Reason it had 12 HP a ton and the grades where NOTHING for it. The Super C was powered like a Passenger Train yet hauled Freight so it never had to worry about grades.