Ah, I wondered exactly where that separated from the route Amtrak takes. A few weeks ago, I was on an EB that lost our lead engine (due to an electrical fire) in sight of Fargo. We blocked the main line for over three hours while they tried to get it going, failed, and then brought in a BNSF engine to replace it and take us in. They said the freights were on another track at that point, and we would not impact them. Looking at where Casselton is on the map, I see that the lines must split quite close to Fargo.
WOW!!! Looks like an Atomic Explosion! Hope No-One was Killed or Seriously Injured, Railroaders or Civilians!
Welcome to Minnesota! The oil coming out of North Dakota has really brought a boom to that line, that's for sure. Got some family living along that line as well.
Not sure about that. The thing with Crude By Rail (the industry is calling it CBR now) is that they can go anywhere they need to. The biggest demand for oil right now is Asia, and there are at least four oil terminal expansion projects planned just for western Washington for exporting crude there (Vancouver (the one by Portland), March's Point (by Anacortes), Aberdeen, and another just north of Bellingham are the four I know about). Except for natural gas, there isn't really a national pipeline network like there is railroad transportation. The proposed KBR pipeline would have moved the crude to the gulf coast. They have refineries there, but those already have access to gulf coast oil, and access to Asia is limited by the size of ships that can fit through the Panama Canal (even an expanded Panama Canal). The pipeline might have removed some of the oil traffic from some lines, but it would have only served one possible route.
