Passenger Trains > Rail Runner line to Santa Fe construction shots

I had a chance today to stop by the work that is going on on the line to Santa Fe. Here are a few shots of the work. Crews are working today to make up for lost time due to snow the last couple of weeks.

The first is of the concrete box structure that will be the entrance to the I-25 median at the south end. This is near the LaBajada rest area, Santa Fe is about 12 miles in the distance (those are the end of the Rocky Mountains in the background, the Sangre De Cristos).

The second shot is a panoramic view of the line in Waldo Canyon.

The last shot is looking towards Albuquerque (that's the Sandia Mountain Range in the distance). The existing rail line is just past the berm in the distance. About a third of the earth has been moved for the cut for the new track.

Tim Harris

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When is the proposed completion date for the Rail Runner line to Santa Fe?

jd4amtrak Wrote:
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> When is the proposed completion date for the Rail
> Runner line to Santa Fe?

Construction should be completed mid-November 2008 and service will begin in December.

Tim Harris

Is this an all new rail line or is it a conversion of an existing route? Or little bit of both?

Nice scenery. You get to see two things we don't here in SoCal: 1) Blue skies and 2)open space.

Des-Lab Wrote:
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> Is this an all new rail line or is it a conversion
> of an existing route? Or little bit of both?
>

It's an all-new rail line connecting Santa Fe, NM to the existing Raton Sub mainline (owned by the state with BNSF, NMRR and Amtrak running on it) with a direct route to Albuquerque. Eliminates the round-about rail routing via Lamy.

Check it out: http://www.nmrailrunner.com

(I stand corrected, it's indeed the Gorieta Sub...mundo explained it better than I, as a part new-part existing line. Still, this is a pretty awesome move by a state that really puts it's money in rail projects that people will use...)

The west end of the line uses BNSF track, that the Southwest Chief operates on.
So its part new, part old.

Alco251 Wrote:
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>
> It's an all-new rail line connecting Santa Fe, NM
> to the existing Raton Sub mainline (owned by the
> state with BNSF, NMRR and Amtrak running on it)
> with a direct route to Albuquerque. Eliminates the
> round-about rail routing via Lamy.
>
> Check it out: http://www.nmrailrunner.com


It's the former BNSF Glorieta sub, state doesn't close on the Raton sub until December of this year.

Is the existing track on the Glorieta Sub ok for running at 79 mph? I can't imagine BNSF maintains it often, and I know a lot of 90 mph there has become 79.

Would be cool if they could run at 90!

The existing Glorieta Subdivision is maintained for 79 MPH. The section between Albuquerque and Lamy used to be 90 MPH, back was reduced back in the late 80's or early 90's and still has ATS shoes installed and operating. The Santa Fe and later BNSF maintained this track same as the Transcon, except with the lighter traffic load, they didn't replace the rail and crossties as often. There was major tie replacements on the line in the late 1990's and early 2000's. While some sections had jointed rail and lighter rail, it didn't make the track any less useable. The line was constantly maintained by BNSF with no weeds and minimal slow orders (the SP had major mainlines with more slow orders than this line had). Most of the sidings today are full of stored equipment.

How does this etfect the Santa Fe Southern? Do they enter the city on their tracks? Will they use their depot? The last I was there they were just starting to build a parking ramp and they cut two yard tracks.

poultrycar Wrote:
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> How does this etfect the Santa Fe Southern? Do
> they enter the city on their tracks? Will they
> use their depot? The last I was there they were
> just starting to build a parking ramp and they cut
> two yard tracks.

Rail And ties will be replaced on the track in Santa Fe with 136 lb rail and concrete ties for 4.35 miles in Santa Fe. Speed limit will be restricted to 35 mph in the city limit. The depot at the Railyard will be used as the final destination.

BNSF6400 Wrote:
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> The existing Glorieta Subdivision is maintained
> for 79 MPH. The section between Albuquerque and
> Lamy used to be 90 MPH, back was reduced back in
> the late 80's or early 90's and still has ATS
> shoes installed and operating. The Santa Fe and
> later BNSF maintained this track same as the
> Transcon, except with the lighter traffic load,
> they didn't replace the rail and crossties as
> often. There was major tie replacements on the
> line in the late 1990's and early 2000's. While
> some sections had jointed rail and lighter rail,
> it didn't make the track any less useable.

With track upgrades, 90 mph could return. However, there are a number of grade crossings that should be eliminated first.

Bob

Would be a waste of lots of money to raise the speed limit to 90mph. Do the math, even if the train ran non-stop the time savings over 79mph is less than 5 minutes. No real advantage on relatively short routes with several stops unless the speed jump is significant, to say 110 or 125 mph. Which requires even more money and a new fleet of railcars.

79mph is just fine for this line. And thanks to the original poster for the pics and info.

Diddle_E._Squat Wrote:
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> Would be a waste of lots of money to raise the
> speed limit to 90mph. Do the math, even if the
> train ran non-stop the time savings over 79mph is
> less than 5 minutes. No real advantage on
> relatively short routes with several stops unless
> the speed jump is significant, to say 110 or 125
> mph. Which requires even more money and a new
> fleet of railcars.
>
> 79mph is just fine for this line. And thanks to
> the original poster for the pics and info.

If you say so Diddle! I for one would like to see 3 and 4 go back to 90 on that section of track myself!