Join the discussion on the following article:
Union Pacific invests $20 million in Kansas line
The line south of Herington, KS (via Wichita, Enid, Chickasha and Duncan, OK are former Rock Island.
I’ve gone through Coffeyville and it definately needs those upgrades. Seems like a similar project that they are doing to the Oakley, KS line.
The line in question if the former Mo Pac RR line; it is part of the current UPRR route structure, and is run from near Chase Ok. through Coffeyville,Ks to The area around Paola,Ks. and on to Ksnsas City (Neff Yd). The line through Coffeyville,Ks. to Paola,Ks is generally the Northbound traffic link; while the line from Paola,to Parsons,Ks. to Chase,Ok is generally for Southbound traffic. The area of Chase, Ok is where the line splits (former: MO Pac runs East towards Little Rock, (NLR) Ar; while the former: MKTRR runs south towards Ft.Worth,Texas, (and a Div point in McAlester,Ok area).
Last Year, I think it was the UPRR upgraded their OKT sub from Wichita down to Enid,Ok (nee: R.I. ) . They spend a similar amount on upgrading the line.
All the UP employees i have come in contact with were great PR people. They were friendly and spoke well of UNION PACIFIC…Before days of cell phone my wife had a flat tire on a county road. She was trying to change the tire when a sherif car drove up to assist her. The deputy told her as a train went by the engineer saw her and call in that she needed help.
I’m guessing that if LIRR (Long Island) were doing this, it would cost 10 times as much, take 5 times as long, and would then have to be redone 2 years later due to use of poor quality ties! In contrast, UP seems to take pride in the maintenance of its lines and to doing it efficiently and quickly as well.