CP has been moving former DM&E traffic bound for Chicago to Marquette instead of La Crosse. This started when MOW work was being done on the La Crosse to Chicago line and has been the norm ever since. Other than way freights and the Janesville originated ethanol trains, traffic on the DM&E is pretty thin.
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
I think CP is using the Mississippi line a lot more as a shortcut from the Twin Cities to Kansas City than the Milwaukee Road ever did. Also if I remember correctly Milwaukee used to partner with KCS in Kansas City not sure if CP still follows that agreement but KCS has a helluva lot more traffic now that they have a Mexican Subsidiary and I am guessing that translates to increased interchange in KC as well. Futher, one or both Dakotas are rehabbing the former Milwaukee Branches that go through their respective states. Understood one or two are run by BNSF but BNSF does not have all of them. The lines are in better shape now than when Milwuakee went bankrupt so I presume they are also adding to the traffic along with all the Ethanol plants popping up.
I live near KCS in Dallas now and they have noticeably increased their traffic in and out of Dallas since I moved down here in 1996.
While in the Quad Cities recently I noticed a large amount of tie replacement and quite a bit more traffic than there used to be. Is there enough business now to warrent that much track work ? Thanks ahead of time for any info
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