UP Arizona upgrade west of Phoenix

Trains Magazine General Discussion
1

UP upgrading Phoenix west sub. Don’t count on them to continue on to Yuma. Evidently traffic up on line so UP may consider it needing to be upgraded for traffic level.

Phoenix according to UP has a 5 or 6 to 1 ratio of inbound loads to outbound loads.

UP probably wants to spend their money on the Sunset double tracking effort. $9M is not a lot to spend on 40+ miles.

Only if a lot of inbound traffic to the Phoenix west sub occurrs and much originates west of Yuma would UP want to reopen line to Yuma to reduce back tracking to present Sunset route.

http://www.uprr.com/newsinfo/releases/capital_investment/2012/0312_trax_arizona.shtml

2

My impression of the UP announcement is that it is merely about periodic upkeep on the part of the line that is in service.

I don’t see Amtrak ever going back to the Phoenix Line (for economic, penny pinching reasons). UP doesn’t really need the west portion, but I think it is kept just as an emergency route.

Five hundred years from now when the Sunset Route gets too congested, I see UP possibly reopening the mothballed line for slow moving movements that would otherwise create havoc on the Sunset Route.