“What Would You Add?” Infrastructure Edition

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OBS Chief
Joined
Aug 14, 2016
Messages
544
Location
MI
Okay, so we all have a route or two that we want Amtrak to bring back, whether it be the Desert Wind or the old 20th Century Limited. But the reality is that with our nation’s railroads operating as private entities, Amtrak’s ability to expand current services, let alone start new ones, is incredibly limited and subject to many hoops.

The goal is this thread is to provide a place to compile the various ideas for infrastructure improvements across the Amtrak network, including stations, MoW, etc. I’ll stay in my Midwest stomping grounds to start:

The section of the NS Chicago Line between Porter and Chicago is one of the biggest causes of delays for Amtrak Michigan Service trains traveling to and from Chicago. More often than not, trains are halted by a lift bridge in northwest Indiana for boat traffic. Project #1 would be to rebuild that portion of the line in a manner where it would be possible to run trains without the interference from barges. It would likely require a grade, but it would certainly be more efficient for both NS and Amtrak. Project #2 would be to allow Amtrak to rebuild the two main lines between NW Indiana and Chicago that would be exclusively used for passenger service. This would help to eliminate NS-caused delays on one of the most congested sections of track in the Midwest. 

Post yours below!
 
Constant tension catenary between NYP and WAS would be great. With the current catenary setup there, trains can not exceed 135 mph.
 
First and foremost is the need to upgrade and expand the rolling stock!! Except for a few Viewliner sleepers and diners and Acela, there haven’t been any significant additions for a very long time. Then take into account all the equipement that has been lost through accidents and mishaps, and the current state is pathetic. So with virtually no stock to expand service with, there are very few infrastructure improvements that will produce true increased passengers numbers.
 
The obvious place would be for WASH - Richmond to become 4 tracks.  WASH - ALX has 25 AMTRAK passenger trains.      NS has  2-1/2   AMT RTs south  of ALX.  CSX south of ALX has 10 Amtrak round trips to Richmond including Auto train from Lorton..  There is no other track section with as many Amtrak trains as WASH - ALX - RVR.

Then we have weekday VRE trains from Manassas and Lorton  There are 8 RTs to from each of Manassas and Lorton.    Weekday totals

So totals   WASH - ALX    57 one way passenger trains  and an unknown number of CSX freights

                  ALX -    LOR     36 one way passenger trains   CSX freight  unknown

                  LOR - RVR       16  one way passenger trains  CSX unknown

                ALX - MAN       21 one way  passenger and NS 2 - 4?

Note:  1/2 train is Cardinal 3 times a week
 
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• Double track OKC-FTW for BNSF freight bypasses and capacity for added Heartland Flyer frequencies, to say nothing of new ROW to Stillwater/Tulsa.
• Bypass Ponder-Saginaw-Fort Worth Intermodal TC to avoid interference and slow speeds through BNSF yards in north Fort Worth.
• South. Of. The. Lake.
• MDOT purchase of the Pere Marquette Line—double tracking, straightening, speed improvements, and PTC (basically “the Michigan Line treatment”) to enable added Pere Marquette frequencies.
• MDOT purchase/upgrade/construction of the line Grand Rapids-Lansing-Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti-Dearborn-Detroit for necessary service across the lower peninsula.
 
Replacing any tunnels that are falling apart (yes, the ones into NYC for sure, but there must be others all across the country) before the water, mountains, or whatever else is on top of them crashes through while a train is in them.

Truly, I hold my breath any time I'm on a train that goes through an old tunnel.
 
Second Transbay Tube and electrification in California. 

A bridge between San Rafael and Point Richmond.

Tehachapi and Pacheco Pass. 
 
• MDOT purchase of the Pere Marquette Line—double tracking, straightening, speed improvements, and PTC (basically “the Michigan Line treatment”) to enable added Pere Marquette frequencies.
• MDOT purchase/upgrade/construction of the line Grand Rapids-Lansing-Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti-Dearborn-Detroit for necessary service across the lower peninsula.
Agreed with most of this, but PTC has already been instituted on the Pere Marquette. That happened last October. I was actually talking about it with one of the conductors this morning.....a continuation of a discussion I had with him and another conductor a couple of days after activation.
 
Replacing any tunnels that are falling apart (yes, the ones into NYC for sure, but there must be others all across the country) before the water, mountains, or whatever else is on top of them crashes through while a train is in them.

Truly, I hold my breath any time I'm on a train that goes through an old tunnel.
Yes yes, and the bridges too! I'm biased to the NEC since I live close to it and it's far and above the corridor I'm most familiar with, but the Portal North Bridge, B&P Tunnel, Hudson Tunnel, Connecticut River Bridge, Susquehanna River Bridge all need to be addressed. I know the slowest sections from NYP to NHV and OSB can't be improved that much more than present due to ridiculously high land acquisition costs if another track was to be constructed, but Amtrak should work with Metro-North to get this very slow section improved.

Making the entire NEC South at least three tracks. There are a lot of bottlenecks in there.

Working with CT DOT to double-track the last 12 miles of single track on the New Haven–Springfield Line in order to increase frequencies on the Hartford Line. This is planned down the road, but the earlier the better. This project will actually be quite complicated due to the I-84 Hartford Project slated to start construction within the next two years or so, which will involve the relocation of Hartford Union Station and tracks through downtown Hartford.

The obvious place would be for WASH - Richmond to become 4 tracks.  WASH - ALX has 25 AMTRAK passenger trains.      NS has  2-1/2   AMT RTs south  of ALX.  CSX south of ALX has 10 Amtrak round trips to Richmond including Auto train from Lorton..  There is no other track section with as many Amtrak trains as WASH - ALX - RVR.
Yes, this is a very important project as well.
 
Allow all of the trains that serve RVR to serve RVM. Create storage tracks at RVM for trains laying over and please make it take less than 30 mins to get between Richmond’s two stations.
 
I've touched on this before on some other threads, but I think that one area for improvement is in Augusta, GA.   Namely, upgrading the railroad infrastructure so that possibly either the Silver Star or Crescent (or both, depending on schedules) could be rerouted through that area.

Also, make it to where a train from either NFK or NPN could go directly to RNK.    
 
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While I think this benefits Metra more than Amtrak, rebuilding Chicago Union Station into a through station with appropriate concourses and improved connections to the L system.
 
Some one asked us about the single track at Hartford.  Could new ties, timbers, and rail be added to that section?  We wonder about the super structure and girders being able to carry 2 trains at once   ie   an Amtrak and freight on other track?
 
Some one asked us about the single track at Hartford.  Could new ties, timbers, and rail be added to that section?  We wonder about the super structure and girders being able to carry 2 trains at once   ie   an Amtrak and freight on other track?
I don't believe the viaduct is anywhere near strong enough to hold two trains at once. Besides, as I said above, it's not worth it, because there is a good 3.5-4 miles in downtown Hartford that is still single track.
 
The section of the NS Chicago Line between Porter and Chicago is one of the biggest causes of delays for Amtrak Michigan Service trains traveling to and from Chicago. More often than not, trains are halted by a lift bridge in northwest Indiana for boat traffic. Project #1 would be to rebuild that portion of the line in a manner where it would be possible to run trains without the interference from barges. It would likely require a grade, but it would certainly be more efficient for both NS and Amtrak. Project #2 would be to allow Amtrak to rebuild the two main lines between NW Indiana and Chicago that would be exclusively used for passenger service. This would help to eliminate NS-caused delays on one of the most congested sections of track in the Midwest.
This has been called "South of the Lake" or "Great Lakes Rail" and actually got to the point of a completed Draft EIS before being quietly and illegally put on the back burner by a Republican governor of Michigan and/or Trump cronies at the FRA (not clear which).

It is the #1 national priority,  IMO ahead of the bridges and tunnels on the NEC.  (New York has survived when everyone had to take the ferries across the Hudson.)

After that and the bridges/tunnels on the NEC, yes, Second Transbay Tube in SF (standard gauge).

Then the high-speed tunnel across Tehachapi from Bakersfield to LA.

Those are all big-ticket items. Some small ones:

(1) A switch at Pittsburgh to restore through service from Pennsylvania to Chicago.

(2) Passenger-only tracks on the Empire Corridor from Schenectady to Buffalo.
 
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In the Southeast, an Atlanta downtown station and connecting tracks are needed, like, a decade ago.  Sadlythere's no political will or funding from Atlanta, so no chance.
 
neroden said:
This has been called "South of the Lake" or "Great Lakes Rail" and actually got to the point of a completed Draft EIS before being quietly and illegally put on the back burner by a Republican governor of Michigan and/or Trump cronies at the FRA (not clear which).
With a Democratic governor in Michigan now, one may hope that changes.....unless it was the fault of the Trump cronies, then never mind.
 
Other infrastructure.

Hialeah is a terrible location.  I'd build a new central maintenance shop for Viewliners, Amfleet IIs, etc. much further north and higher in elevation. 

Several parts of the NEC need to be raised and relocated to avoid flooding caused by global warming.

The San Diego-LA line still has sections which need to be raised and moved back from the cliff edge.
 
Oh, I didn't realize you had "off-schedule" city elections.  Feb 26th -- how weird.

We just normalized all our elections in New York, synchronized the dates.

Pritzker's already in office of course... probably the letter should have been written and sent *before* he released the budget on Feb 20th.  :-(
 
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