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Southwest Chief "In The X-Hair"
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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Vincent206: [QB] The operational reality is that the infrastructure of the current SW Chief route between western Kansas and Albuquerque is deteriorating. I was on that section about 2 years ago and it was obvious that the tracks were in need of maintenance. As the years go by and nothing is done, the ties will continue to deteriorate every year. There isn't any freight traffic on that corridor and BNSF isn't going to maintain the tracks to passenger standards without help from Amtrak and the states. If Amtrak and the states don't want to pay for maintenance, trains 3 and 4 will eventually be running at 25 mph between Dodge City and Albuquerque. There also are 348 miles of track between Dodge City and ABQ that have no PTC installed and Amtrak will need to cover that cost, too. The problems are clear but the solutions aren't easy or obvious. Switching 3/4 to the BNSF Transcon would create a faster and more dependable journey for Chicago to Los Angeles passengers, but many stations in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico would get buses instead of trains. Albuquerque would also be facing the "Maricopa Problem" if 3/4 stick to the Transcon. Belen to ABQ could be covered by local train service or NM Railrunner, but that would be a significant downgrade of service to ABQ. The ridership info in the "Anderson Presentation" shows that most passengers are riding regionally. There were 15,200 tickets sold between CHI-LAX and 6,300 tickets CHI-FLG, but most of the largest city pairs are either in the Chicago to Kansas City corridor or the Los Angeles to Albuquerque corridor. There is very little ridership generated from the cities on the central part of the route. The Southwest Chief problems are real and the solutions involve making difficult choices, but doing nothing is not a sustainable solution. Also, expecting Amtrak to upgrade and maintain the deteriorating infrastructure to passenger rail standards isn't financially realistic. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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