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Empire Builder moved to a more southerly route?

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[quote user="arbfbe"] There are some interesting ideas here but they far exceed the scope of the proposal.  The limited addition of a parallel train to the EB route will be a hard enough sell.  No one wants to drop the service on the High Line since that is the area where there is no or little airline service whereas the low line has better and unsubsidized air service.  Ideas such as routing trains via UT, WY and CO were floated last time around and drew very limited response.  So drop them from this proposal.[/quote]Keep in mind though, if Michael's observations hold true regarding the fact that most of the Montana boardings of the current EB are coming up from the I-90 cities, then even a minimal parallel train from Billings to Missoula and Spokane will have a significant negative effect on the High Line EB.  I think my perceptions hold true - that Montana cannot host two parallel trains, ergo either one or the other must go.And why do people keep throwing into the mix the fact that most of the US Highway 2 cities have little or no alternative transportation?  So what!?  Why is that supposed to be relevant to this discussion?  There's literally thousands of such communities across the nation that have no air service, bus service, OR Amtrak service, and those towns haven't dried up and blown away due to such circumstances.  Why are the High Line towns deserving of such premadona status not afforded to other such towns?[quote]The bottlenecks on the MRL are Laurel Yard and Mullan Pass.  So I am sure MRL would like to see the train routed over the Butte line and gain the benefits or haveing an alternative to the Helena routing.  Coal and grain mtys could be routed via Butte to relieve congestion on the Helena line.  That could be a large carrot for the MRL to consider hosting the passenger trains.[/quote]Rather than reopening that convaluted line, wouldn't it make more sense for MRL to construct a "fly by" line of 3% or 4% gradient from the east portal down to Skelly Gulch(?)?  Bypass the switchbacks.  Even a parallel tunnel to Mullan might do the trick, especially if it can be built with a westward downgrade.  Then use Mullan for eastbounds and the new tunnel for westbounds.  I know such things are expensive, but with modern tunneling equipment a two mile tunnel might be feasable, and reopening a poor route makes no sense to me.  Maybe part of the expense could be paid for by the feds, since the feds are just throwing money at Class I's right now![quote]Do not expect any track reconstruction towards Dillon or anywhere else.  [/quote]Of course not, since it would require cooperation of UP, BNSF, and MRL to get the I-15 rail corridor reopened.  The integrated rail system does not allow for such logical ideas.
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