Western Railroad Discussion > New track?

When and where was the last time a railroad added some new track? I mean really "new" here - not sidings, not an upgrade from single to double track, and not just a short dedicated spur to a new supplier or consumer. I mean, when was the last time a new route was opened between two general destinations e.g. cities.

I suppose there's been some major additions in the Wyoming coal fields that might qualify and new "shortcuts" around existing bottlenecks/steep grades. I guess what I'm asking is how long has it been since a railroad actually expanded by other than acquisition and consolidation.

Thanks,

WP

I'm sure there are newer ones (Powder River Basin comes to mind....), but in 1955 the Santa Fe built a new line from its north-south mainline south of Sanger, Texas, south through Denton and Lewisville into Dallas. The new line gave Santa Fe entry into Dallas from the north, and saved what would otherwise be a detour via Cleburne (south of Fort Worth) for northbound freight traffic. The Texas Chief operated a Dallas section over the line that split off/recombined at Gainesville.

I've seen old advertisements from the time that called it "49.5 Very Important Miles in Texas."

The line is now owned by KCS, which uses it along with some trackage rights to access BNSF's Alliance Yard north of Fort Worth.

(The city of Denton actually lobbied the ICC to force the Santa Fe to route the line through Denton, rather than around it...how many times does that happen nowadays?!?)

Does Stampede Pass REOPENING count? After all, it was all new rail wasn't it?

Or maybe Canadian Pacific's Spiral Tunnels line?

DL

SP's Palmdale/Colton cut-off during the early 60s?

rh

Probably the last major new mainline that was built through virgin country (not including double tracking, triple tracking and line changes) was the UP-CNW coal connector along the NE-WY border north of South Morril. This line was finished in 1984 and connected between UP's North Platte branch and CNW's line to Casper, a distance of about 50 miles. In terms of the number of daily trains the line handles, it basically has gone from 0 to 60 in 20 years.

Alameda Corridor?

My favorite recent-vintage line is CN St. Andre Jct. - Pelletier, opened in 1977. Allowed abandonment of the Monk Subdivision Joffre - Pelletier and concentration of all traffic on the Intercolonial Line Joffre - St. Andre Jct.

First main-line mountain RR in many years (although I think they managed to engineer it to a 1% grade or less), and one of the last operated with Alco 251s. Pretty overgrown now, but it made for killer shots of the Big Ms powering the hot trains in the 80s (and a killer sound show too). Lots of rugged deep rock cuts, superb fall color.

Best regards,

Rob L.

Thanks for the responses. The Sanger-Dallas short-cut was a good example of what I was thinking about. Back in 1955! I guess it's way to expensive now to purchase new ROW. And too crowded!

Thanks,

WP

Maybe it would help to differentiate an entirely new route from tracks on current and former rights of way. The Alameda Corridor is actually on almost the whole route of southern California oldest line, the Los Angeles and San Pedro RR of 1869. SP's Palmdale Cutoff opened in June 1967.

BC Rail added new lines during the 50s and 60s in northern BC. Someone else probably has more accurate info on that.
The Roberts Banks coal project built quite a few miles of new track in southern BC. Not sure when that was done though.
This probably does not meet your criteria, but GN built a brach line from custer to cherry point, WA, in the 50s to service the refineries and an aluminum plant.

Casey

Sticking with BC Rail, I was going to say Tumbler Ridge

Butch,,,,,here we go