How Many Miles in Amtrak Network?

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Woodcut60

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Jan 13, 2015
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In one of the older System Timetables the former CEO of Amtrak, Joe Boardman, wrote that the total network of Amtrak comprises 21,300 miles. The Amtrak National Facts Sheet says “more than 21,400 miles.” Now, I know that to verify this I can calculate it myself by consulting the Timetable, but does anyone here know the exact mileage for the Amtrak rail network?
 
It is probably tougher than you think to calculate the number of unique miles covered by Amtrak. There are common miles between many of the lines, so simply adding up the timetable mileages will not work. The Southwest Chief shares some miles with the Pacific Surfliner and the California Zephyr. The Empire Builder shares mileage with the Cascades and Hiawathas and the PDX section also with the Coast Starlight.  Those shared miles are not necessarily station to station - line junctions could be anywhere.  At terminal areas, there are examples where multiple trains share several miles of track - New Orleans is one.  Maybe someone knows based on miles of line with qualified crews, but other than that, it would be a chore with little need other than curiosity.
 
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Maybe someone knows based on miles of line with qualified crews, but other than that, it would be a chore with little need other than curiosity. 
It's quite probable that there is a federal tax report and/or commercial insurance document that spells out Amtrak's network mileage as of the most recent renewal or change.  Even in cases where mileage based liability is minimal or nonexistent it may still need to be reported and zeroed out.  Those documents would most likely be protected from FOIA requests but presumably there are other documents with similar information used for other purposes.
 
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. . . does anyone here know the exact mileage for the Amtrak rail network?
Exact?  No.  And I'm sure nobody else does either.  One reason was brought up by PRR 60.  Another is the ambiguity of of the term "mileage" as there is often a difference between the miles of track between the end points of the route of a train and the number of miles the train travels when going from one end point to the other.  Add to all that the fact that many routes have segments with alternate paths which differ in length - sort of like a passing siding that strays away from the mainline track a small (but measurable) distance, as shown below:

CZ Alternate Route, Passing Sidinga.jpg

There's also the problem of knowing whether or not the distances posted in railroad timetables accounts for anomalies such is this on the route of the California Zephyr...

FRA Rifle COe.jpg

...and the 1 1/3 or so miles missing between mileposts 393 and 395.
 
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This really is so subjective and hard to calculate that I don’t think you’ll be able to find a figure nearly as precise as you want. Think about it, are we talking about the total physical length of all the rails? In that case, how do we count switches? What about sidings and other short trackage used when encountering other traffic? Or are we just talking about the typical shortest path for each train? Then how do we add up shared trackage?

It just becomes so fuzzy and inconcrete that I simply don’t see how you can get such a precise answer.
 
And if you really wanted to get scientific you'd need to consider the seasonal expansion and contraction of the length of all that rail based on average Winter and Summer temperatures, the thermal coefficient of linear expansion of the steel rails and the total length of all the routes.  That works out to a bit more than 5.9 miles.  How 'bout them apples?   :rolleyes:
 
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And if you really wanted to get scientific you'd need to consider the seasonal expansion and contraction of the length of all that rail based on average Winter and Summer temperatures, the thermal coefficient of linear expansion of the steel rails and the total length of all the routes.  That works out to a bit more than 5.9 miles.  How 'bout them apples?   :rolleyes:
Continuously welded rail (CWR) does not expand or contract with temperature (or, we certainnly hope not). The effect of temperature variation is reflected by internal force resisted by tie anchors. One mile of CWR is one mile long at 0F or 100F. 

Couple more apples for the basket.  :D
 
One mile of CWR is one mile long at 0F or 100F. 
That is no doubt true in a perfect world with straight well-ballasted track, but I suspect curves are a natural place for those forces of tension and compression to relieve themselves by altering the effective radius of those curves without causing a visibly noticeable kink.  And sun kinks do occur, as seen in this:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_stressing  I've felt a few dandies on the Empire Builder in North Dakota.

So maybe not 5.9 miles of temperature induced change but probably some measurable amount.  Maybe.
 
It's quite probable that there is a federal tax report and/or commercial insurance document that spells out Amtrak's network mileage as of the most recent renewal or change. 
There was a time when the exact number to the nearest mile, for the most recent five years, was in the annual reports. Presumably at a time when there was increased service to brag about. (It fluctuated around 24-25k miles for most of the 80s and 90s.)

The "more than 21,300" number appears in the 2015 annual report. Presumably the change to 21,400 is the addition of Lynchburg to Roanoke. I don't have an exact number handy - and I assume that even if the route-miles number correctly reports distance between junctions, it doesn't take into account the few hundred miles where eastbound and westbound trains run on different track.
 
So what routes and segments did you take?
I took two similar 12,000+ mile trips with the original pass, when one was only restricted by the 15 days, one could take as many trains as one could fit in. I can't quite remember my exact routes, but I did post at least one in trip reports. Not sure if reports from 10 years or more are still kept on AU? It is 11.30pm in the UK just now, feel a bit too tired tonight to search for it, but will have a search around for the route info tomorrow.

Ed.
 
I took two similar 12,000+ mile trips with the original pass, when one was only restricted by the 15 days, one could take as many trains as one could fit in. I can't quite remember my exact routes, but I did post at least one in trip reports. Not sure if reports from 10 years or more are still kept on AU? It is 11.30pm in the UK just now, feel a bit too tired tonight to search for it, but will have a search around for the route info tomorrow.

Ed.
All threads since August 22nd, 2002 are still on this site. If you know the year this was, I can probably find the thread for you. 
 
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