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Union Pacific plans discontinuance of 58-mile Oklahoma branch
I bet this all has to do with AOK wanting the track and possibly preperation for transfer of the line to AOK.
Thomas Beckett Jr. - The line between OKC and El Reno is very much intact and in use. I live in Yukon which is on the line between OKC and El Reno. The line hosts a bunch of auto racks, rock and mixed freight running on 115lb ribbon rail at 49 MPH. Also the Choctaw Route in Arkansas is not completley ripped up. It is intact from Memphis to Brinkley and from west Little Rock to Perry. The Choctaw Route in Oklahoma is intact from Howe to Erick. Erick to Weatherford is operational and operated by Farmrail, Sayre to Erick used for car storage. Weatherford to just east of Bridgeport is out of service. East of Bridgeport to El Reno is Operated by AT&L. The line from East of Bridgeport to Geary is used for storage. The line from El Reno to OKC is operated by UP. OKC to Shawnee is operated by AOK and owned by UP. The article is about the Shawnee to McAlester which has been out of service for years. And finally McAlister to Howe operated by AOK. The route west of Erick in Texas and Oklahoma is all but gone except some trackage around Amarillo, TX.
AOK wants the line for a BNSF connection. Their big problem is funding.
Interesting… just a few weeks ago, Arkansas Oklahoma Railroad announced applying for a grant to rebuild part of this line. http://trn.trains.com/Railroad%20News/News%20Wire/2011/11/Arkansas-Oklahoma%20applies%20for%20grant%20to%20rebuild%20closed%20route.aspx
I suspect that UP has made this motion in order to grant AOK Railway the rights to the line. The State of Oklahoma owns the former Rock Island Choctaw Route through there. Katy ran it after the Rock quit and UP got it when they merged with Katy.
If that is true, then the AOK Railway will have a direct route from Oklahoma City to Howe, OK. The line already runs from McAlester to Howe and Oklahoma City to Shawnee, all former Rock Island.
If Watco or a company like them were around, they could
put the line to work. Maybe as a storage track. There must
be someone behind a small deck in Omaha or someone
who has retired in the operating dept in the field who could
remember who had freight on this old line 20-30 years ago.
I hardly think UP will be maintaining unused track. Whatever the motivations I also hope the STB dosen’t drag this out. But l am confused on why they would seek discontinutance on a line that hasn’t run a train a two years.
Maybe someone can help me.
Joe
with a discontinuance they don’t have to keep the track up, they don’t have to maintain the signals, crossings and such, until they decide to put the track back in service. It is still there to reopen if a customer does come back online.
Great thinking on UP’s part. Look what Iowa Pacific is going through in New York. Keep the rails intact for future use, you never know when they may need them again!
Brian, UP hasn’t done and won’t do any maintenence on this line until such a time arises that it will be needed again. This line used to be the Rock Island’s Choctaw Route From Tucumcari, NM to Memphis, TN and hasn’t seen much traffic between Shawnee and McAlester since the Rock went under in 1980. But at least UP is thinking ahead and leaving the tracks in place. This line still could be a viable route.
Brian-it’s capacity. UP has already been burned a couple of times where they have sold off trackage, only to have needed it again a few years later. It has not been a factor recently due to the soft economy. That said, I don’t see the obvious value in holding onto this segment. It connects with their former MKT line from KC to Texas at Mc Alester, as well as the A-OK there, which runs the former Rock from Mc Alester east to Howe, where it connects to KCS. The line east of Howe is largely abandoned all the way to Memphis. It does not connect with anything significant in the UP system at OKC either-the nearest line is the ex Rock line from Kansas to Texas at El Reno, and the track from OKC to El Reno is mostly lifted. Further, sections of the line grown over with trees that have become quite large. Its usefulness as a through route is limited. They could also be holding it as a defensive move, though who they are keeping if from, and why, are open to question, though I think AOK had expressed interest in the line.
Footnote: I was at a grade crossing somewhere west of Mc Alester a few years back, looking at the jungle the line had become, when I struck up a conversation with a local lady, who I would say was in her 70’s. She recalled troop trains running there when she was little-a lot of excitement for a little girl of that period. I’m trying to picture a Rock 4-8-4 and a dozen cars blasting through the countryside…