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I wonder what the scrap value of the Stevens Pass line would be right now? At least they could tear up the rails from Everett to Wenatchee, and sell the rest of the line to a shortline operator to handle the online business. As far as I know, there is no online traffic between Everett and Wenatchee. I do have somewhat of a business relationship with the guy the runs a third party intermodal doublestack operation out of Wenatchee to Puget Sound, but as he and I have talked he can easily move that operation to Ellensburg, and has talked about doing just that if BNSF ever raises the clearances in Stampede tunnel for double stacks, so what we've discussed wouldn't be all that bad from his point of view. <br /> <br />One other thing that works out well with this radical re-alignment of cross-Washington rails, a re-opening of the Milwaukee line between Ellensburg and Seattle could allow some grain trains bound for Puget Sound to be removed from the Columbia Gorge route to the Yakima River line. It is the 2.2% westbound grades that keep the grain trains off both the Stevens Pass and Stampede Pass lines, and with the Milwaukee's 0.7% ruling westbound grade between Ellensburg and Puget Sound, some of the congestion on the Columbia Gorge line can be aleviated. Don't know if the 1.7% downhill from Snoqualmie Pass to the Sound might be a problem for such trains, but if they can handle the 1.8% coming down Maries Pass in Montana, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
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