The announced capital upgrades that BNSF just announced in ND & MONT will affect Amtrak's EB route from Fargo - Glassgow, MT More sidings from Fargo - Minot on Devils Lake route . Double tracking from Minot - Glassgow. Also the upgrades on the direct route Fargo Minot is going to slowdown the devils lake route.. This is a total of 555 miles of EB continuous construction covering ~ 9:00 of EB schedule time.
How will the EB even cover this construction section in 18:00 ? The construction will need to be crammed into ~ 4 months time ( 6 if BNSF very lucky )
To add to this construction there is already other maintenance scheduled on this 555 and other mileage of the EB.
Streak,
Seems kind of churlish for the free rider to whine about BNSF investing a few hundred million to improve its route. Most of this work can and will be done without disruption to existing service. Remember BNSF needs to get its paying trains over the line.
Mac
PNWRMNM Streak, Seems kind of churlish for the free rider to whine about BNSF investing a few hundred million to improve its route. Most of this work can and will be done without disruption to existing service. Remember BNSF needs to get its paying trains over the line. Mac
You must be new around here
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
Paul Milenkovic PNWRMNM Streak, Seems kind of churlish for the free rider to whine about BNSF investing a few hundred million to improve its route. Most of this work can and will be done without disruption to existing service. Remember BNSF needs to get its paying trains over the line. Mac You must be new around here
Adding 'new' double track and 'new' sidings only affects existing track when it is necessary to cut switches for the end of sidings or for crossovers between the existing main track and the new second main track. Most track construction is performed by non-railroad contractors and can be performed on the new track alignment without affecting the existing tracks operation.
Adding capacity is something that, after years of 'right sizing' capacity, the railroad have learned to do without wrecking the transportation services they provide to all their customers, including Amtrak. This does not mean that there won't be any delays or service disruptions for unforseen circumstance.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
BaltACD Adding 'new' double track and 'new' sidings only affects existing track when it is necessary to cut switches for the end of sidings or for crossovers between the existing main track and the new second main track. Most track construction is performed by non-railroad contractors and can be performed on the new track alignment without affecting the existing tracks operation.
Balt: I hope you are right but the Sun Rail double tracking has the second highest minutes per 10,000 mile delays ( Star , Meteor, Auto train ) for Amtrak trains even over BNSF of EB. Only worse route are the NS' Michigan services. These numbers from the January performance report.
blue streak 1 Balt: I hope you are right but the Sun Rail double tracking has the second highest minutes per 10,000 mile delays ( Star , Meteor, Auto train ) for Amtrak trains even over BNSF of EB. Only worse route are the NS' Michigan services. These numbers from the January performance report.
Speaking of churlish -- or snarky -- your reaction to bluestreak is uncalled for. It's reasonable to ask what the impact on the Builder will be, given last season's construction-related disruptions.
And don't give me "free rider." We Amtrak riders pay the fare requested -- just as do "riders" on other government programs, such as Medicare and Social Security. They don't pay for themselves, either -- but are far from getting a free pass.
Fred,
The free rider comment was not about what riders pay ATK, it is about the fact that ATK pays the freight carriers far less than the value of the capacity it consumes and the delay it imposes.
dakotafred PNWRMNM Streak, Seems kind of churlish for the free rider to whine about BNSF investing a few hundred million to improve its route. Most of this work can and will be done without disruption to existing service. Remember BNSF needs to get its paying trains over the line. Mac Speaking of churlish -- or snarky -- your reaction to bluestreak is uncalled for. It's reasonable to ask what the impact on the Builder will be, given last season's construction-related disruptions. And don't give me "free rider." We Amtrak riders pay the fare requested -- just as do "riders" on other government programs, such as Medicare and Social Security. They don't pay for themselves, either -- but are far from getting a free pass.
The parent post heading of "BNSF (stabbing) the EB" sets the tone for the entire thread. As to the call for civil dialog, it should be asked of all parties. In that spirit, I offer the following plea:
"Heavens to Betsy, "Streak", could you endeavor to phrase your question in terms of the impact on the Empire Builder of host-railroad recent-historical construction activities that make it challenging to meet the published Amtrak schedule?"
The delays on the Michigan line are to rehab the single track of the former NS line.
Some of our posters need to give us a thumb nail of BNSF's crew situation. Are all crew districts using all their crews or do any have surplus whether furloughed or carrying surplus ? After reading Fred's blog one has to wonder if a few TDY crews would help as long as they would not plug other districts?
Actually that is NS' delays if yo9u look at page E-5 of
January performance report you will see that Amtrak is separated out. NS is solely its own culprit.
http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/350/2/Amtrak-Monthly-Performance-Report-January%202014.pdf
Page E-5
blue streak 1 Actually that is NS' delays if yo9u look at page E-5 of January performance report you will see that Amtrak is separated out. NS is solely its own culprit. http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/350/2/Amtrak-Monthly-Performance-Report-January%202014.pdf Page E-5
Looking at the breakdown by RR, evidently the 39 miles of current NS subject to the delays are on the Chicago line west of Porter, Indiana. I see now the former NS part of the Wolverine service would be that noted as MDOT, which is the part of the line being upgraded.
I see the Pere Marquette service which also runs over the same 39 NS miles, is even more minutes late.
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