Western Railroad Discussion > Former WP line

How is traffic along the former WP between SLC and Alazon,NV?

Spent 16 hours in the Silver Zone-Shafter area last August and saw 9 trains including the California Zephyrs.

From what I'm hearing, it's pretty quiet on the Shafter Sub nowadays. The loaded unit trains still route west that way, in addition to the MRORV/BNSF Provo-Stockton trains, but not much at all going east on that route anymore; MRVRO now runs across the lake via Ogden as it is a no-fitter most days of the week. All in all probably not more than 5-6 trains a day on that line nowadays, not counting the locals and Amtraks.

I've also been told that business on the former SP line north of there (Lakeside Sub) has also dropped off quite a bit in recent months, as one of the daily stack trains is no longer running, and several others are only running 4-5 days a week. Sure sounds like UP is downgrading both of those lines these days, but I'm not sure why.

Taking into consideration the losses of traffic on the LA&SL and ex-WP/SP lines in Nevada in recent years, only the OSL and Sunset Routes seem to be showing steady growth these days for UP out west. Very puzzling...or this that part of the plan?

Update: I would add in the I-5 line to the comparison above, but I don't think that line is seeing all that much traffic these days, either.