Western Railroad Discussion > LA&SL Route: Track Work Needed?

As a tie-in with my thread below, with traffic on the UP's LA&SL route between SLC and Yermo seemingly on an upswing nowadays, am wondering what UP has planned as far as upgrades to handle more traffic on that line, assuming some of the new traffic is of a more permanent nature. Anybody heard anything as far as increasing the route structure on that line to handle more traffic? And where would the congestion areas be on that line, besides at SLC and Yermo? Las Vegas could obviously use a new yard somewhere, but haven't heard of anything happening in that regard.

What other problem areas on the LA&SL would need to be addressed in order to increase traffic between SLC/Yermo? And how about using the line between Lyndyll and Provo/SLC as a kind of double track section? They could probably route some of the manifests that way.

And what's happening with the proposed double tracking of Cima Hill, or has that been postponed until the (proposed) LA/Vegas passenger trains come into the picture?

There is still a lot of work going on in Meadow Valley Wash between Farrier and Boyd. I don't know how it is effecting capacity. They are putting in a new signal system. I don't know if it was planned or a result of the flood damage from this winter. Most of the track work appears to be done and they are putting in a lot of rip-rap to protect everything from the next flood. One thing that I did notice was that the new bridge at Cottonwood Wash is not very long and it looks to me like it will be a bottleneck if they get another "big one".

I don't think that UP will ever let Amtrak back on the LA&SL route. Thank you for your post. Detector out

There's talk of double tracking thru Meadow Valley and else where along the route..but it just talk, I haven't been able to confirm or deny this.
Cima Hill has two mains, a siding and a wye. As to Amtrak, it's a dream of many but will it ever happen. I truly don't know.

Given the universally acknowledged emphasis on UP expanding its capacity on the Sunset Route, and given UP's other pressing capital needs, don't expect all this work to be done overnight. If it happens, it will most likely take place over a multi-year span. Besides, UP loves to accomplish multi-year projects in phases.

Just to clarify, what I meant by the proposed LA/Vegas passenger trains was that a private party had proposed bringing in the service, not Amtrak. Was supposed to be high-speed service which would probably mean building a separate right-of-way along I-15 or nearby. Haven't heard if that proposal is still in the works or if it's been killed off. We're talkin' some SERIOUS MONEY here, folks.