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Amtrak Discussing Southwest Chief reroute with BNSF
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by palmland: [QB] SW Chief, I don't think 90mph has ever been the speed limit over Raton. In looking at a 1989 ATSF ETT. It lists the top speed between Trinidad and Raton (Raton SubDiv.) as 79mph. But there are also almost continuous speed restrictions due to 89! curves that limit top speed to 20-30mph. The Las Vegas SD between Raton and Las Vegas, NM shows 79mph as top speed, also with a number of speed restrictions. On the Glorietta Sub between Las Vegas and Lamy the top speed is 79mph, again with many restrictions. Only on the last lap between Lamy to Albuquerque does the speed limit increase to 90mph. Not exactly a speedway. This accounts for an interesting comparison. In the 50's the Santa Fe ran the San Francisco Chief, as noted previously, on the southern route between Newton, KS (where the two routes diverge) and Gallup, NM (the first scheduled stop after the lines re-converge at Dallies, NM) via Wichita and Amarillo. A comparable train, the Chief (not to be confused with that premier train, Super Chief) took the northern route over Raton, same as today's SWC. Conventional wisdom says since the northern route is shorter with significant 90mph trackage, it was a lot faster. Here is the schedule for SF Chief: Lv. Newton 7:30pm, Ar. Gallup 9:30am or 14 hours, although bypassed Albuquerque. The Chief left Newton at 3:25am and headed through western KS and Raton. It arrived Gallup at 5:12pm. Total transit time was 13hrs 47min, or only 13 minutes faster than the SF Chief. Today's SWC ironically also leaves Newton at 3:25 am and arrives Gallup at 7:08pm, or 15hrs 43min - 1 hour 43 min slower than the old Chief. Add another 30-45 min for the new slower schedule and its more than 2 hours slower. What would the schedule be if the SWC went via the southern route? Only the BNSF knows for sure, but I'll bet it would be comparable if not faster than the current route. A lot would depend on how the Albuquerque stop was handled. But while the southern route might make good business sense, as a traveler and railfan I would hate to miss that ride over Raton. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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