Interesting the Milwaukee Road Historical Association is reporting a rumor on its' website that CP intends to upgrade with ties and welded rail it's Chicago D&I line to handle a shift of some Milwaukee - Twin Cities Frieght trains over to it.
Allegedly the CP is wanting to clear space on the Milwaukee - Twin Cities line for more Amtrak frequencies. Of which I only know of plans for 1 additional frequency currently but Amtrak cleared with CP that it could be 2 additional frequencies (and not be charged for additional track improvements for the 2nd Frequency if and when they add it).
Found it rather interesting CP would do this voluntarily.
CP is trying to sell the KCS merger to the government regulators.
I am not familiar with the MILW in Wisconsin. What does the D&I stand for? Where would the trackage rejoin the Milw to St Paul mainline?
Ed Burns
NP Eddie I am not familiar with the MILW in Wisconsin. What does the D&I stand for? Where would the trackage rejoin the Milw to St Paul mainline?
It doesn't Eddie, the D&I runs from Bensenville(Chicago) to Sabula, Iowa. This is just a rumour, nothing more. CP is intending to run more traffic over the D&I, but this is traffic coming from Kansas City and points further south and destined for Chicago and Eastern Canada. The shortest route for Milwaukee to Kansas City is via Chicago and the D&I.
CMStPnP Interesting the Milwaukee Road Historical Association is reporting a rumor on its' website that CP intends to upgrade with ties and welded rail it's Chicago D&I line to handle a shift of some Milwaukee - Twin Cities Frieght trains over to it.
Did you mean to say that it's Twin Cities to Chicago traffic which would be diverted to D&I? This would then free up space between Milwaukee and the Twin Cities for more Amtrak.
Which is the more efficient route between Chicago and the Twin Cities? Buried somewhere in the train count data in the merger application is a projected increase between Milwaukee and the TC.
Ajsik Did you mean to say that it's Twin Cities to Chicago traffic which would be diverted to D&I? This would then free up space between Milwaukee and the Twin Cities for more Amtrak. Which is the more efficient route between Chicago and the Twin Cities? Buried somewhere in the train count data in the merger application is a projected increase between Milwaukee and the TC.
The line between Sabula IA and La Crescent MN is a very slow single track line with limited passing sidings that hugs the west side of the Mississippi River. It rejoins the Chicago-Twin Cities mainline at La Crescent.
The BNSF former CB&Q line on the east bank is a real racetrack all the way up to the Twin Cities - the former route of The TwinCities Zephyr.
CP from La Crescent to the Twin Cities is also a segment of the route of The Hiawatha and is a higher-speed route, still hosting the Empire Builder.
The CP route from Sabula to La Crescent is much more of a grainger line, being a slower speed route with tighter curvature built to collect traffic from branches across Southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa.
AjsikDid you mean to say that it's Twin Cities to Chicago traffic which would be diverted to D&I? This would then free up space between Milwaukee and the Twin Cities for more Amtrak. Which is the more efficient route between Chicago and the Twin Cities? Buried somewhere in the train count data in the merger application is a projected increase between Milwaukee and the TC.
Yes and it is just a rumor on the Milwaukee Road Historical Association Website under places of interest......not sure who wrote it.
I've been watching the Steel Highway railcams recently in Washington, Muscatine, and Dubuque, Iowa, which show, in the first two cases, the CP Kansas City Subdivision and in the third case the Marquette Subdivision. Train counts last week were close to the 2019 base service numbers given in the CPKC merger application. I logged 4.75 trains per day at Washington over four weekdays, 5.5 per day at Muscatine, and 6.0 per day at Dubuque. The numbers were roughly 50/50 split between manifest type trains and unit trains (grain, tank cars, coal, and sand).
This is not a racetrack! It was enlightening to see, for example, a 475 manifest taking roughly 18 hours to go 150 miles or so from Washington to Dubuque, many of the hours likely spent at Nahant Yard in between.
- Ed Kyle
Ed KyleThis is not a racetrack!
A lot of people have brought that up. I am curious what is CP's plan to address that as we also have rumors and some public statements by the company they intend to upgrade the route.
It doesn't have to be a race track. We have a daily manifest from Chicago to Council Bluffs that takes 48 hours at best, often longer. It's not because of track speed, maximum speed on the lines is mostly 70mph. Although most manifests will only be allowed 50mph. It's the enroute work that slows it, and usually means a couple of extra recrews.
They don't necessarily need to raise allowable speeds, but overall velocity by adding or expanding siding capacity were possible. Consistantcy and reliability is more important than individual train speeds for most trains.
I believe crews on the DME component still get paid less than Soo component crews of CP.
Jeff
I do know CP had quite a number of new or expanded sidings proposed for the former MILW south of Savanna on the route to KC.
Probably several 20,000-foot sidings added between Savanna and La Crescent would make a big difference in capacity on that portion of the line.
kgbw49I do know CP had quite a number of new or expanded sidings proposed for the former MILW south of Savanna on the route to KC. Probably several 20,000-foot sidings added between Savanna and La Crescent would make a big difference in capacity on that portion of the line.
Amazing!
In this day and age we are calling 20000 foot track sidings, in the days of yore that would have been four miles of double track.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
In another thread, someone posted that the line along the Mississippi south of LaCrescent was flood prone, apparently more so than the mainline to the north.
kgbw49 I do know CP had quite a number of new or expanded sidings proposed for the former MILW south of Savanna on the route to KC. Probably several 20,000-foot sidings added between Savanna and La Crescent would make a big difference in capacity on that portion of the line.
In addition to the two sidings that are already in place between Marquette and La Crescent (Kains and Harpers Ferry), another one is planned at MP 155 (near Brownsville) as well which will help tremendously.
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