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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by kenneo [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by futuremodal If indeed this Athol to Spokane consolidation takes place, are you saying for a fact that it will be triple track all the way from Athol to Sunset Junction? Is UP better off giving up their own tracks to use those of their prime competitor? Is UP planning on ripping out the valley tracks, or will they keep them as "insurance". [/quote] See web site http://www.bridgingthevalley.org The various pages answer all of your questions. Wish I had known about it earlier. Remember what I said earlier a couple of times about who pays for things such as this? This is a proposal made by the City of Spokane and Washington DOT. They are paying quite a big chunk of the costs and taking all of the political heat. FRA DOT is also paying a chunk through the grade-crossing elimination project. Look. Watch. See your taxes at work. Also, I really don't think the BNSF and UP are being given much of a choice. [/quote] Well, it looks as though most of this is still in the preliminary stages, but to take a few website statements at face value..... "...as well as relocating the existing Union Pacific (UPRR) mainline between Spokane and Athol to an alignment within BNSF’s mainline corridor..." So is UP going to have any ownership rights of these new sets of tracks parallel to the current BNSF line? Or is this going to be all BNSF trackage with UP getting overhead rights like they currently do between Fish Lake and Napa? Hmmm, nothing says "out of touch" like making the same mistake twice! "The UPRR mainline track needed to maintain service to existing customers will be reclassified to industry track from mainline track." Still not sure if the current UP line will remain intact or have parts torn out. If the former, at least there will be an available rail bypass when the next big catastrophic derailment takes the BNSF main out of service for more than a few hours. If the latter, well, the website further states "Remove a majority of the UPRR mainline and the associated crossings."........ So, no alternative available? "Construct a new UPRR Yard" Why would UP need a new Spokane yard? Most of their carload traffic to and from Spokane originates or connects with the current yard site aka the Plummer branch, the East Sprague warehouse district, et al. Where is this new yard supposed to be located? Sounds as if developers are eyeing the Playfair/Avista Stadium area for some upscaling. Like I said before, there is nothing germaine to the BNSF line regarding the need for grade separations and closed road crossings that couldn't also be done the UP's line. Build a few road underpasses and overpasses, close down a few of the lesser used road crossings, and there you go. An available high capacity second mainline that UP and BNSF could share for directional or segregated running of mainline freights. And you don't even have to build a second track nor a new Spokane River bridge. Seems to me that would be a less costly solution. But who really cares about costs when it is the taxpayers footing the bill?
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