Western Railroad Discussion > Roseville CA passenger station relocation???

Heard that the UP is asking the city to move the Amtrak station a bit farther west (to either PFE or Antelope North roads) so they can rework the east end of their yard.

Anybody know anything about this or is it just a rumor?

There was this article back in July in the Sacramento Business Journal that mentions UP asking the City of Roseville to move the station several years ago, but isn't clear why. http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/print-edition/2012/07/27/rail-service-to-bay-area-will-accelerate.html

Ron Butts
Lincoln, CA

They rebuilt the passenger boarding area awhile back, moving the track a bit farther away from the station. The big issue is how UP reworked that end of the yard and how trains coming off the Valley (North) line have to cross over several leads to get into the yard. That and the truncated locomotive shop tracks that make engine shop moves a bit of a hassle. I can see where UP would want to clean things up a bit and the Amtrak station is in the way. The trouble is that it's close to downtown/historic Roseville and is also a transit terminal. Moving it a mile (or more) away would be a hassle for commuters.

Nothing is going to be clean there considering the fact that the diesel shop is now between the two main lines. Everything going in or out of it has to go via the mainlines. They would have been better off to have put the second main line (circa 1998) right next to the original mainline along Church St.

djansson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They rebuilt the passenger boarding area awhile
> back, moving the track a bit farther away from the
> station. The big issue is how UP reworked that end
> of the yard and how trains coming off the Valley
> (North) line have to cross over several leads to
> get into the yard. That and the truncated
> locomotive shop tracks that make engine shop moves
> a bit of a hassle. I can see where UP would want
> to clean things up a bit and the Amtrak station is
> in the way. The trouble is that it's close to
> downtown/historic Roseville and is also a transit
> terminal. Moving it a mile (or more) away would be
> a hassle for commuters.

Trains coming off of the Valley only have to cross the 2 Martinez Sub mains. They take the same route as a train from Sparks entering the yard from Main 1. They don't have to cross any leads.

portlander is right, the current track layout is much simpler than the old layout. Trains leaving and arriving from the East Valley Sub had to go through one or two puzzle switches before the reconstruction, and the SP had a switch herder that lined all the switches (245 herder if I remember correctly). Also, when the UP essentially moved the #1 track to where the #2 track used to be, it made the curve coming off the west leg of the wye much broader than it used to be, allowing higher speeds through that leg of the wye. I believe maximum speed is 40 mph through the yard on mains 1 and 2, and 30 mph taking the wye onto the Valley sub. I don't have an SP timetable handy, but I am pretty certain maximum track speeds through the east end of Roseville yard were well below the current maximum track speeds. Just observing trains entering and leaving the east of the yard today it's clear they are moving at higher speeds than before UP reconfigured the yard.

As to the tail track at the east end of the locomotive shops, that has always puzzled me too. UP spent a ton of money designing and reconstructing the entire yard, and this just looks odd terminating right in front of the signal. My guess has been that the UP didn't want to clog up both main tracks by having engines entering and leaving the east end of the shops. As constructed, engines enter and leave only on the west end of the shops. Certainly easier for the dispatcher this way.

Ron Butts
Lincoln, CA



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/08/12 17:17 by RonSD70.

Current speed on the west leg of the wye is 30 mph, on the #1 track from MP 106.0 to 106.4 (basically along the diesel shop and past the Amtrak station) is also 30 mph, while the newer #2 track is 40 mph through the east end of the yard.