Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote user="CMStPnP"] Just giving an update.... The former Rock Island between Dallas and Ft. Worth is what the Trinity Railway Express operates on.  <a href="http://www.trinityrailwayexpress.org/">http://www.trinityrailwayexpress.org/</a> What I have been able to dig up on this is the Amtrak switch off from the Union Pacific is conditional on these two items: 1. $8 million in additional double tracking via the stimulus funds that were awarded Texas earlier.    I am not sure what the status of this project is in the area of completion. 2. $15-17 million in a new HSR grant application that will install Positive Train Control on the entire TRE line.     This is up for approval and has not been granted yet.     The application is against the HSR funds that Florida rejected recently. I've ridden the TRE recently and it is running faster and smoother between Dallas and Ft. Worth, they have been working on the track / roadbed and it's noticeable. Once the above two projects are completed, they plan to approach Amtrak on moving the Texas Eagle over to the TRE line.     Additionally, they wanted to create a new Amtrak stop at DFW Airport Centerpoint station.      Not sure WHY Amtrak needs to stop there but I suspect DFW wants to add Amtrak as an option?      Not sure. Anyone here anything else on this?      I think once this move is completed it will speed up the transit of the Texas Eagle between Dallas and Ft Worth as it will no longer have to back into the Ft. Worth station, it can just run through the station like the TRE trains do.      It will also help decongest the Tower 55 area interlocking a little more. :)  [/quote] I wrote a letter to Amtrak's President in 2006 recommending that they switch the Texas Eagle onto the TRE, thereby eliminating the backing movements in Fort Worth, as well as the need to throw a manual switch for the approach track into Dallas Union Station.  I got a nice letter back from the VP of Operations thanking me for my suggestion, which in and of itself surprised me.   A few months later I was visiting Dallas Union Station one Sunday afternoon, and I noticed an Amtrak locomotive and Superliner coach at the end of the platform.  It turned out to be the spares that Amtrak kept at Fort Worth.  The engineer told me that they had just performed a test run over the TRE.   I was subsequently told by a DART official that Amtrak had approached the TRE about running The Eagle over the TRE, but TRE management did not think that they could accommodate it. Hopefully, with the funds that you referred to they will have the resources to hoist The Eagle between Dallas and Fort Worth. I believe that Amtrak did install or have installed an automatic switch on the approach track to Union Station and, therefore, The Eagle no longer has to stop short of the station to have a train person de-train and throw the switch manually. I am keen to see how this plays out.
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag