Join the discussion on the following article:
Watco wins bid for Oklahoma rail line
Passage rail at 10 mph in the summer what fun that will be… The rail is junk… Someone is dreaming. This should had been sold back bnsf…
BNSF would route all traffic via its own lines, Stillwater Central can work with three class ones for the best rates for customers. That helps online industries instead of sending them looking for trucking companies. Definitely a better deal for on line industries.
Watco bid $75 million, BNSF bid $25 million. A no brainer for the state.
Watco bid $75 million, BNSF bid $25 million. A no brainer for the state.
I hope I’m wrong, but the chance for restoring passenger service to and from Tulsa and Oklahoma City just died. Despite the size of Watco, it still remains a chancy railroad at best. Knowing the politics of Oklahoma though, I shouldn’t be surprised.
Maybe the state didn’t want to sell the line back to BNSF, just to have them abandon the line again the next time there is a change in management.
I’m is shock bnsf didn’t win this bid. Remember before the merger this was their line and was well maintained. Not sure why a class 3 would be awarded this line over a class 1. if anybody has some ideas why feel free to weigh in.
Maybe BNSF has too much monopoly and it’s time for smaller roads to take the reins.
It is evident that many of the commenters here have not done their homework or read the two bids from the BNSF or SLWC which are available on the ODOT website. The BNSF bid was 25 cash on sale day and 45 to be paid within the first few years regardless of outcomes so the BNSF total was 70. The line is currently 25 not 10 mph and will be upgraded to 40 freight, 60 passenger within the next year. I rode the Iowa Pacific train this year and it was a nice trip over good rail. Watco is a multi-national corporation over 30 years old with solid reputation with equity interests, it will be around for many years. The BNSF was only interested in letting Amtrak run the passenger service and only if it did not interfere with their freight traffic and any upgrades would have to be fully funded by the state. Please read their proposal carefully to fully understand what they intended.
Thank you John from kansas.
Bottom line : SCR bid $75Mil. BNSF bid $25M. There is an article with more information at the following link.
The consensus in my circle of friends is that the likelihood of passenger service just increased with the sale to SCR. BNSF has shown little interest in running passenger trains unless required to do so, much less starting their own service with or without government money. Stillwater Central has already run demonstration trains which sold out. Part of the agreement is that SCR MUST grant passenger train easement to State if SCR is not running trains. Their plans to implement passenger service were slowed by the uncertainty created by the announcement that the line was for sale. This is over now and plans are progressing. Only time will tell the results. Best of luck.
Watco has been doing a lot of upgrades on the WSOR in Wisconsin so I don’t see why they wouldn’t follow through in Oklahoma as well. I would take them over a Class I any day.
I’m glad the SLWC won this bid instead of BNSF. They didn’t want the line in the first place, so why give it back to them. And the SLWC bid was much better than BNSF. But one thing is bugging me. I live in Oklahoma, and I can’t think where the SLWC would interchange with KCS. The two lines don’t connect anywhere. The closest the SLWC gets to the KCS is about 70 miles. Am I missing a connection somewhere?
As much as I am honored to have John Chambers as a friend, I have to wonder what he has been smoking. For him to proclaim that the SLWC will be 40/60 mph in a year is insane. As someone who has worked the run from OKC to Owasso, I would consider it suicide to run a train at 40 mph without the line receiving all new ballast, ties, rails, bridges and signals.
WATCO would go broke investing the necessary funds to make that pipe dream possible.
Personally, the track would have fared better under the control of the BNSF, but, alas, that was not meant to be.