BNSF Devils Lake (North Dakota) Subdivision

[rich747us]

A couple of months ago in Trains magazine, I read an article about different Amtrak routes that were in danger of having part of their routes cut out because of possible line downgrades, abandonments, etc. A part of the article listed that the Empire Builder was at risk along its routing between Minot and Grand Forks. It said that BNSF was looking into downgrading that line which is the Devils Lake Subdivision. Does anyone know any more news on this? I thought it was kind of odd to hear of the possible downgrading of this line. I remember driving on a trip between Grand Forks and Minot and seeing parts of this line where some of the heads on the signals were turned perpendicular to the tracks. I was thinking maybe they were preparing to install new signals, but then again, perhaps they are simply taking them out of service. It would be unfortunate to see the Empire Builder no longer run through Grand Forks as the first ever trip I took on Amtrak began there when I lived there back in 2001.

[railman]

The reason BNSF is looking at cutting the line is due to its' namesake, Devils Lake. DL is like a big toilet, collecting all the water in the area, and it's been growing...a lot. In the ancient days (500 years ago) it burst to the Red River of the North when it got "full", and depending on how high it gets now, it may eat the tracks, then flood to the river, contaminating the Red with water that hasn't met in the passing centuries. I remember reading about this in the Star Trib (Star Tribune, Minneapolis paper) a few months ago.

[rich747us]

Hey Railman,

So they're planing on abandoning it, not downgrading the line? Darn. Have you ever heard any stories about weather or not they ever looked into perhaps repositioning the line? I recall a couple of years ago a short side story in Trains that mentioned the problems with the rising water levels in Devils Lake. The article also mentioned the lack of traffic on the line (somthing like 2 scheduled freights a day between Grand Forks and Minot, unit grain trains as needed, and the eastbound and westbound Empire Builder). Anyways, let me know if you hear anything about it. Thanks.

-Rich

QUOTE: Originally posted by railman

The reason BNSF is looking at cutting the line is due to its' namesake, Devils Lake. DL is like a big toilet, collecting all the water in the area, and it's been growing...a lot. In the ancient days (500 years ago) it burst to the Red River of the North when it got "full", and depending on how high it gets now, it may eat the tracks, then flood to the river, contaminating the Red with water that hasn't met in the passing centuries. I remember reading about this in the Star Trib (Star Tribune, Minneapolis paper) a few months ago.

[jeaton]

Dave Gunn had his people look at the lines being used by Amtrak and developed a list of segments that either had serious congestion from high density or had very low density. They were noted in Amtrak's latest 5 year plan. There was no suggestion for any action, it was more of an alert.

Gunn and his people are well aware that the continued use of a very low density line poses problems for the host railroad. When it comes to the maintanence element, Amtrak pays only for the wear caused by their trains. If the host railroad is only running a couple other trains on the line, there really isn't enough revenue being generated to put much into maintenance of way, let alone keep the track up to passenger speed standards. In fact, the low traffic density might indicate that abandonment is the best economical option for the railroad.

That is not saying that any lines are being considered for abandonment. In fact the BNSF said they have no such plans for their low density lines being used by Amtrak.

Of course, that's today.

Jay