Condition of former Amtrak route west of Phoenix

[GP35]

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=32.957977,-113.475723&spn=0.004519,0.009645&z=17

Use street view at the railroad crossing to see condition of the tracks.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

Maybe I should be posting this in the thread that is asking folks what age bracket they are in (my bracket falls into the 'jeeze I'm old' catagory) but when looking at the street view in the link to Googlemaps, the title to Elton John's third album comes to mind: "Tumbleweed Connection." :blush: :lol: How sad. :unsure:

 

[bobnabq]

http://maps.google.c...9,0.009645&z=17

Use street view at the railroad crossing to see condition of the tracks.

When I lived in San Diego, CA (1980's and 90's) there was occasionally talk of the state starting up a passenger line from Phoenix west over the mountains to San Diego.

Apparently there were freight lines? Guess nothing ever came of it, and of course today no one has the money for that.

 

[jis]

When I lived in San Diego, CA (1980's and 90's) there was occasionally talk of the state starting up a passenger line from Phoenix west over the mountains to San Diego.

Apparently there were freight lines? Guess nothing ever came of it, and of course today no one has the money for that.

I can't find any freight lines that headed east from San Diego. There is one twisty-turny line that heads into Mexico and then back to the US, but that's it, and even that does not quite head east all the way to the to the ex-SP main. It finally turns north and joins the ex-SP main along the UP Mexicali line, which it joins at El Centro. And even that line connecting San Diego to El Centro along that route is apparently is not fully in place anymore

 

[alanh]

Actually the old San Diego line was reopened to freight a few years ago. This is indeed the one that goes through Mexico. There is an occasional tourist train that goes to Tecate, but not through the scenic Carrizo Gorge.

The Phoenix west line is indeed in bad shape and will need a lot of work to restore including all new signals.

 

[GlobalistPotato]

What about the bridges along the line? I would imagine that they'd need to be worked on.

How much would it cost per mile to restore the line to 79 standards? How about 110 mph standards?

I'm thinking $1-2 million/mile for 79 mph, and $5-7 million/mile for 110 mph. How much time savings would 110 mph produce over 79?

(Of course, it's really 100 mph versus 79 mph, cause the Superliner's max speed is about 100 mph, IIRC.)