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It seems with respect to rail capacity that there is little long range planning at the corporate or government level. To me, it would seem reasonable for lines that already have existing CTC and are at or near capacity to start with building a segement of double track that fills in between sidings at the mid-point between division points. Having a 10-15 mile section would allow trains to meet without having to stop. Then as time, traffic and money permit work on a section between the mid-point and the division point. Obviously in some areas geographic constraints such as grades and river crossings have a detrimental cost impact. In the current era of 150 car long trains, this becomes crucial if railroads want to minimize delays from stationary meets as most sidings are not of sufficient length to handle rolling meets. The railroads need to focus on what will become their next mainline similar to BN's transcon and direct more investment on these lines. Just think if 10 miles per year were double tracked in 10 years there would be 100 miles and if there was only 10 miles between each double track section there would then be 1,000 miles of trackage that would be operating almost as if it were continuous double track. If just UP, BN, NS and CSX did this in 10 years there would be a minimum of 4,000 miles of track giving a major boost to capacity while not overwhelming the financial capacity of the railroads. Start with something small but be consistent and before you know it you have a interstate rail system. One only has to look at CP where according to them an investment of 160 million Cdn$ increased track capacity by 12% by extending sidings and adding sections of double track. If this investment had been spread over time instead of concentrated in last year, they would have reaped the benefits of it earlier and gradually.
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