Western Railroad Discussion > BNSF capacity increase projects

Most of us know about the double track bridge project over Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, the Flint Hills double track project in Kansas as well as the project to double up between Fort Worth and Cleburne, TX.  Are there any other projects going on to increase capacity?  

What about West Augusta, KS to East Jct.?
Are any sidings being lengthened?  The Kootenai River Sub has a bunch that can't handle the "monsters" that are running these days.

Isn't the Augusta-East Junction included in  the Flint Hills project.?

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX

texchief1 Wrote:
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> Isn't the Augusta-East Junction included in  the
> Flint Hills project.?
>
> Randy Lundgren
> Elgin, TX

Yes

Posted from iPhone

I find it odd that nohting has been done about the single track over the Salt River in Alva, OK.  I was told by a BNSF research/planning type that the traffic there didn't justify it.  However, 
they've got enough traffic to justify the Fint Hills????  And what about Sibley, MO?  Has KCPL tkaen the power plant out of service yet.  Someone told me when that happened the BNSF would redo the Sibley birdge.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

ntharalson Wrote: > ... single track over the Salt River in Alva, OK ...  traffic there didn't justify it ... However, they've got enough traffic to justify the Fint Hills???? 

Look at a system map. The substantial Chicago and KC traffic to & from central and southern Oklahoma/Texas destinations does NOT run through Alva, OK. It cuts away at either Augusta or Mulvane (KS) on the transcon and runs straight south through the traditional Arkansas City/OK City/Gainsville/Cleburne corridor. That's pretty large chunk of the total traffic running through Emporia & the Flint Hills...

Lance

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/12/20 08:25 by santafe199.

There is plenty of traffic to double the bridge in Alva.  I don't know what kind of idiot you were talking to.  If they 're double tracking Ft Worth to Cleburne with less than half the transcon traffic., the Àlva bridge is a give me.  I am sure it is in their plan book, just waiting for traffic to pick back up.

Randy Lundgren
Elgin, TX, 
 

ntharalson Wrote:
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> I find it odd that nohting has been done about the
> single track over the Salt River in Alva, OK.  I
> was told by a BNSF research/planning type that the
> traffic there didn't justify it.  However, 
> they've got enough traffic to justify the Fint
> Hills????  And what about Sibley, MO?  Has KCPL
> tkaen the power plant out of service yet. 
> Someone told me when that happened the BNSF would
> redo the Sibley birdge.  
>
> Nick Tharalson,
> Marion, IA

They have started on building the roadbed up for the approach to the east end of the Spokane River bridge east of Yardley. Not sure what the time frame is on that project but probably a few years. As for the Kootenai River sub besides bonding all the sidings BNsF hasn’t done anything east of Sandpoint with it even during the capacity crunch of 2014 when they did massive work to the Lakeside Sub. Traffic is down enough now that it’s running smoother but when it picks up that sub is a mess. It really could use a few good sections of double track to help things move better when it’s busy.

texchief1 Wrote: > ... I am sure it is in their plan book, just waiting for traffic to pick back up ...

I have to say this is a complete misconception, which often comes from "civilians". In the first place, a given RR tackling a major track work project of any kind has to plan it out a long time, often many years in advance of actual construction. There are always "projections" of estimated future traffic levels. But they're NEVER etched in stone. At any rate, to think that a given RR will "aim for traffic to be up" before proceding on a major project is so asinine I have a hard time even talking about it. Why on Earth would a RR purposely wait for a period of high traffic to start a major traffic-delaying project?? It makes SO much more sense to initiate major projects when traffic is down. The result is much less overall delay to traffic, and in most cases more time that can be given to the project...

Lance/199

Money is relatively cheap right now. Even more so for quality borrowers like BNSF

Posted from Android

When are they going to complete the double track project in California between Mariposa (east of Stockton) and Escalon?  They started it around five years ago, but then abruptly moved all of the personnel to Montana and the Dakotas to extend and build new sidings for the oil trains.  They sure need to double track the line between Riverbank and Denair, which is quite a pinch-point.

lynnpowell Wrote:
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> When are they going to complete the double track
> project ...

You wonder how many of these projects will result in stranded assets like the Powder River Basin.  Will robot truck caravans take away a lot of the intermodal and loose car traffic?  How long will it take for traffic to return to pre-COVID-19 levels?  A large percentage of people are not going out to travel and spend like before until they feel safe, no matter what the government says.  You bet your life!  Even when a vaccine comes out, if enough anti-vax people do not get the vaccine, we may not achieve herd immunity.  There's a lot of people who doubt the science and there's low government credibility and confusing information, partly because it is a new virus.  

It's tough times and uncertainty for a lot of people and businesses, which keeps them from spending and investing.  They are waiting for a more certain future.  So many people put their recovery checks in the bank that the stimulus effect was reduced.  One proposal for increasing individual spending is to give everyone $1,000 that must be spent in 10 days.  If you still have any credit left after 10 days, it goes back to the government.

Business and government leaders need to work toward getting people to feel safe.  As an example, restaurants are expanding onto sidewalks and even into the streets because people feel safer eating outdoors.  Eating outdoors in the hot summer sun is not the optimal choice, but businesses see that as an option that will bring back more diners and expand their physically-distanced capacity.  Few businesses make a profit if they reopen and few customers come, then they have to close by government order because illness went up too much. 

We're not in a good spot right now.

mapboy

mapboy Wrote:

>  Will robot truck caravans take away a lot of the
> intermodal and loose car traffic? 
Loose cars:  Already gone.

bluesman Wrote:
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> mapboy Wrote:
>
> >  Will robot truck caravans take away a lot of
> the
> > intermodal and loose car traffic? 
> Loose cars:  Already gone.

Ha ha, yeah, the Class One railroads are trying to drive that away AS FAST AS THEY CAN!
 

ntharalson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I find it odd that nohting has been done about the
> single track over the Salt River in Alva, OK.  I
> was told by a BNSF research/planning type that the
> traffic there didn't justify it. 

The section between Avard and Mulvane has one of the lowest traffic densities between Chicago and Los Angeles. Yard office rumor says it'll be the last part of the halfcon to become 2MT.

Milw_E70 Wrote:
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> ntharalson Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I find it odd that nohting has been done about
> the
> > single track over the Salt River in Alva, OK. 
> I
> > was told by a BNSF research/planning type that
> the
> > traffic there didn't justify it. 
>
> The section between Avard and Mulvane has one of
> the lowest traffic densities between Chicago and
> Los Angeles. Yard office rumor says it'll be the
> last part of the halfcon to become 2MT.

Thanks for this.  In truth, I forgot about the Texas traffic that rolls through the Flint Hills when I asked my question.  

Nick Tharalson,
Marion, IA

Don't forget the new flyover at Truxton, Arizona (about half way between Kingman and Seligman) on the Seligman Subdivision.  While not as exciting as double track, this should provide more flexibility for dispatchers.

Amazing again TO commenters know where they need to double track things and ther RR DOESNT?  Give me a break people before you next modify that computer generated RR  you run or your model train track there is more to what and where than you understand am sure.  One I dont see mentioned is between Pasco WA and Spokane WA this came from an employee of BN who works out of Pasco a few years back.
 

OK I don't want to get in trouble for this but, there is a double track project underway between East Tulsa and Tiger on the Cherokee Sub. It has been in the works for years but is now underway. This is in addition to the 30 plus miles already built on the Avard gateway, plus CTC and 70 mph running on the former 2 train a day branch line West of Tulsa. This route hosts 30 to 40 trains a day on the Cherokee Sub between Tulsa and Afton where most of the new double track is and we are seeing 10K plus long trains as well.

BAB Wrote:
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> One I dont see mentioned
> is between Pasco WA and Spokane WA this came from
> an employee of BN who works out of Pasco a few
> years back.
>  

Several employees told BN that the planned configuration between Pasco and Spokane wouldn't work - decades ago. But they were just the train dispatchers who were supposed to make it work. Since then, a few unit trains of money have gone into attempting to make it work and now...comes the suggestion that the whole thing needs to be double track (which it was in the first place).

TAW

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> BAB Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > One I dont see mentioned
> > is between Pasco WA and Spokane WA this came
> from
> > an employee of BN who works out of Pasco a few
> > years back.
> >  
>
> Several employees told BN that the planned
> configuration between Pasco and Spokane wouldn't
> work - decades ago. But they were just the train
> dispatchers who were supposed to make it work.
> Since then, a few unit trains of money have gone
> into attempting to make it work and now...comes
> the suggestion that the whole thing needs to be
> double track (which it was in the first place).
>
> TAW

How would they accomplish the double track?

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