Good news for Devils Lake track raise

[Trogdor]

I have to wonder about the 15-day disruption of EB service that conveniently ended right after the meeting. Amtrak could have run on the Surrey detour, but perhaps they calculated that cancellation would inspire action on the part of politicians??

No. The detour route was impassable much of that time. BNSF couldn't even get many of their trains through. Those that did go through were delayed by several hours.

That the weather got better (briefly) around the same time as the agreement was made is pure coincidence.

 

[anir dendroica]

Certainly there was the Gassman derailment (one day closure) and the landslide (two-day closure), and the detour route did (and still does) have lots of slow orders. But back in early May when a late blizzard hit and Devils Lake shut down Amtrak ran trains through New Rockford. It's true that they incurred up to 6 hour delays doing it, but they kept trains running. I'm not saying they had a good alternative, only wondering whether the upcoming meeting might have factored into their decision to shut down for the past two weeks.

I have to wonder about the 15-day disruption of EB service that conveniently ended right after the meeting. Amtrak could have run on the Surrey detour, but perhaps they calculated that cancellation would inspire action on the part of politicians??

No. The detour route was impassable much of that time. BNSF couldn't even get many of their trains through. Those that did go through were delayed by several hours.

That the weather got better (briefly) around the same time as the agreement was made is pure coincidence.

 

[Trogdor]

No, it was the six- to ten-hour late trains, constant busing, crews getting all out of place, going dead on the law, turning trains in Spokane, and having to pay for all the misconnects at both ends of the route that factored into the decision to cut the train.

 

[mwmnp]

I'm bringing this thread back to post that Grand Forks, Devils Lake, Rugby, and surrounding areas received great news today as the federal congressional delegation from North Dakota announced that BNSF CEO Matt Rose told them that this spring, BNSF will be starting the repairs needed to keep the Devils Lake line from going underwater. As the project is still in need of $12 million worth of funding commitments, BNSF's eagerness to get the repairs made in 2012 would seem to validate the notion expressed by several people that the railroad's past insistence that the line was unneeded for use in the movement of freight was largely a bluff. In fact, quite the contrary is being expressed by BNSF now, since the railroad has stated that through freight traffic on the line will return once the threatened tracks and bridges are raised.

At present, the $97.4 million project is expected to be financed through $32.5 million committed by Amtrak, $32.5 million committed by BNSF, $10 million from a U.S. Department of Transportation TIGER grant, and $10 million provided by the state of North Dakota. As mentioned, $12 million is still needed, but reportedly BNSF anticipates talking with Amtrak about jointly coming up with that funding. In any event, the remaining amount may not be all that important, since nearly $29 million of the project's total cost is anticipated to go toward a secondary project of laying new welded rail on parts of the line not impacted by flooding. There has not yet been any indication whether replacement of all this rail can be deferred a few years due to cost considerations or must occur at the same time construction takes place on the flood-threatened part of the line.

Weather permitting, the entire project is anticipated to take nearly 7 months to complete. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the project, Amtrak will be forced to detour away from Grand Forks, Devils Lake, and Rugby for much, or all, of this time. In the grand scheme of things, though, that's surely a small price to pay to ensure Amtrak continues serving those communities in perpetuity.

A Grand Forks Herald article discussing this latest news is available here.

 

[Agent]

I'm not sure how things were in North Dakota, but I think with all the flooding and detours this year, BNSF learned how important a nomally less used line can become in a crisis.

 

[Ryan]

Weather permitting, the entire project is anticipated to take nearly 7 months to complete.

Ha!

Isn't springtime when the flooding makes things impassible? I'd imagine that's going to make life a little more difficult.

 

[PaulM]

BNSF's eagerness to get the repairs made in 2012 would seem to validate the notion expressed by several people that the railroad's past instance that the line was unneeded for use in the movement of freight was largely a bluff.

Golly, who dathunkit? Too bad there's not a lot of flooding in southern New Mexico.

 

[johnny.menhennet]

I'm not sure how things were in North Dakota, but I think with all the flooding and detours this year, BNSF learned how important a nomally less used line can become in a crisis.

Not entirely true. BNSF did not have a problem with the normal High Line mainline that detours Devils Lake. The problem was with the Souris River in Minot, right as both lines converge. BNSF was forced to route most of those trains over the often-single-track ex-NP line that the NCH took, where they then transferred some to MRL and moved some back up to the High Line in central MT

 

[mwmnp]

Weather permitting, the entire project is anticipated to take nearly 7 months to complete.

Ha!

Isn't springtime when the flooding makes things impassible? I'd imagine that's going to make life a little more difficult.

Typically, yes, but unless there is a substantial amount of snowfall between now and April or so, flooding shouldn't be much of a problem in the Red River Valley or Devils Lake Basin in the spring of 2012. Following a very wet spring and early summer of 2011, the tap stopped running for much of eastern North Dakota (and all of Minnesota) late in the summer and especially in the fall, which was one of the driest falls on record. December has largely continued the trend and will most likely end up being one of the least snowiest Decembers on record for much of eastern North Dakota/western Minnesota. As evidence of this, Christmas in the area this year will actually be brown, in spite of the historical chances of a white Christmas being roughly 85-90%. The dryness also has the entire area showing signs of drought, with a lot of the Red River Valley listed in the "moderate drought" category by the U.S. Drought Monitor.

 

[EB_OBS]

Man, the oil & gas industry depends heavily upon this line at current and will well into the future. Maybe someone should hit them up for some extra millions.

 

[sechs]

Typically, yes, but unless there is a substantial amount of snowfall between now and April or so, flooding shouldn't be much of a problem in the Red River Valley or Devils Lake Basin in the spring of 2012. Following a very wet spring and early summer of 2011, the tap stopped running for much of eastern North Dakota (and all of Minnesota) late in the summer and especially in the fall, which was one of the driest falls on record. December has largely continued the trend and will most likely end up being one of the least snowiest Decembers on record for much of eastern North Dakota/western Minnesota.

Sounds like the weather may be a primary factor in BNSF's eagerness.

 

[Exiled in Express]

What sort of delays can be expected once construction begins?

 

[AlanB]

Considerable delays can be expected, since last I knew the plan called for BNSF basically shutting down that entire line during the construction. That means the Empire Builder will have to run via the Surrey Cutoff, as well as all freight, so that should mean considerable congestion and unfortunately delays for the Builder.

Once completed however, it should help the Builder considerably, especially since running times will be faster than they are now after the work is done.

 

[Blackwolf]

Since I cannot see the full article, are there any ideas when this project may get under way? With March coming up and travel plans made via the Builder, predictable heavy delays are an interest of mine.

 

[Exiled in Express]

Since I cannot see the full article, are there any ideas when this project may get under way? With March coming up and travel plans made via the Builder, predictable heavy delays are an interest of mine.

from: http://www.twincities.com/minnesota/ci_19611546

BNSF Railway CEO Matt Rose told the North Dakota congressional delegation this week that construction will begin in the spring on the $97.4 million project along the BNSF track.

"Spring" in North Dakota would be late April/May to me, this has been an amazingly mild winter to date though. My current travel plans had considered connecting from 7 onward in Chicago but I am thinking it may be best to make at least the MSP-CHI hop by air to avoid missed connections.

 

[Blackwolf]

from: http://www.twincitie...ota/ci_19611546

BNSF Railway CEO Matt Rose told the North Dakota congressional delegation this week that construction will begin in the spring on the $97.4 million project along the BNSF track.

"Spring" in North Dakota would be late April/May to me, this has been an amazingly mild winter to date though. My current travel plans had considered connecting from 7 onward in Chicago but I am thinking it may be best to make at least the MSP-CHI hop by air to avoid missed connections.

I can hope that March 1st is not too close a date for travel on the EB. We do have that pesky connection in PDX to the southbound CS to make.

 

[Orion]

Looks like they still have no time frame set up for the Devils Lake raise. However, according to a news release on the BNSF website, it will be in 2012.

LINK