Southwest Chief Re-Route?

[Chas]

Correct, it is not the re-route at this time, but a local economic-development spin: rails for Kansas and eastern Colorado will be made at the steel mill in Pueblo.

And this:

Jack Rink, president of the Pueblo Economic Development Corp., said the jobs are welcome and fit in with PEDCO’s mission to make Pueblo a center for rail companies.

“PEDCO has identified rail as one the clusters we want to focus on,” Rink said, noting that several other companies are making rail products in Pueblo. “We’re out to promote to the rest of the country that your suppliers are in Pueblo County and you should be, too.”

 

[greatcats]

Thanks for the updates. I would consider this good news.

 

[afigg]

The 2015 TIGER grant award selections are being announced. The application for the SWC route in NM got picked. Next, more debate here over this...

Senator Udall (D-NM) press release: NM Delegation Announces $15 Million to Upgrade Amtraks Southwest Chief Route. Excerpt:

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Steve Pearce and Ben Ray Luján announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded $15,210,143 for the Southwest Chief Route Advancement and Improvement Project to continue essential upgrades to Amtrak's Southwest Chief line. The Southwest Chief runs from Chicago to Los Angeles and stops in several New Mexico communities, including Raton, Las Vegas, Lamy, Albuquerque and Gallup. Without funding for these essential repairs, the Southwest Chief could have been rerouted or abandoned entirely - a major economic loss to rural communities that depend on the service.

 

[neroden]

Bleah. Whatever. Gonna repeat what I said earlier:

We don't have anything direct from BNSF, but we have several statements from various government agencies saying that BNSF has agreed to maintain the line. Yes, the whole thing.

Maybe BNSF will back out on that commitment; maybe they never made it. But as long as this is the impression of the government officials, then there's no pressure for a reroute. If BNSF decides to stop maintaining the line, the reroute plans will come back very very quickly.

Nothing has changed since then.

 

[Palmetto]

BNSF will maintain the route--IF they get paid to maintain the route. I wonder where the money will come from for ON-GOING maintenance.

 

[Chas]

Article on the $15.2 million grant for the Chief's route:

http://www.chieftain.com/news/4052773-120/million-rail-chief-colorad0

BY CHRIS WOODKA The Pueblo Chieftain

Published: October 26, 2015; Last modified: October 26, 2015 10:35PM
A $15.2 million federal grant to repair some of the worst sections of the Southwest Chief passenger train route through three states has been approved.


Phase 2 of the project will cost $24.5 million and will include improvements in Colorado, Kansas and New Mexico so that Amtrak rail service can continue.


“Today, rural Colorado got a heck of a good deal,” said Rick Klein, La Junta city manager. “I feel confident we will be able to raise the funds and complete the whole job.”

La Junta was the sponsor for the Transportation Infrastructure Generating Economic Recovery grant.

The local match is more than $9.23 million, and includes $4 million from Amtrak, $2 million from BNSF Railway and $1 million from each of the states. The rest of the money is from cities and counties along the route.

“The funds raised within each state stay within the states,” Klein explained.

The TIGER grants are highly competitive, but officials were optimistic after Garden City, Kan., got a $12 million TIGER grant for the first part of the project in 2014.

Phase 1, a $22 million project began recently to replace bad sections of rail in Kansas and Colorado. Last week, local officials celebrated the $8 million contract for the steel rail won by EVRAZ steel mill in Pueblo.

Klein said about $30 million is needed to complete the entire three-state project. The strategy is to repair the worst sections of track first in order to allow passenger trains to travel at speeds of up to 80 mph.

Just three years ago, Amtrak was looking at an alternative route to the south, because BNSF was unwilling to repair or maintain tracks entirely at its own cost. Since then, BNSF has agreed to maintain any new rail put in, essentially cutting the cost of replacement and repair in half.

“This was a bipartisan, multistate effort,” said Sal Pace, chairman of Colorado’s Southwest Chief Commission. “The senators from all three states and Gov. John Hickenlooper all played a role in this. I really give credit to Rick Klein for taking the lead and holding this together.”

The grant was announced Monday by the offices of Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.

“The Southwest Chief railway is an important transportation corridor and plays a vital role in stimulating local economies,” Bennet said. “Without these resources, the rail line could be discontinued or rerouted. This is exciting news for La Junta and for the surrounding communities that depend on the tourism and other economic benefits the train brings.”

“This is all about saving jobs,” Pace added. “These are necessary steps to the next goal of the commission, which is getting rail service for Pueblo.”

“The leadership of the folks in La Junta and Southern Colorado built upon the success of Kansas last year and the progress made in New Mexico this year,” said Marc Magliardi, Amtrak spokesman. “We are looking forward to continued success.”

 

[user 1215]

Tried looking for the old, super long thread but I couldn't find it with search and gave up after the first 4 pages.

Since it's me that's not been around, you can flame me if this is already being discussed.

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_29099901/pueblo-seeks-southwest-chief-stop-amtrak-lines-future

- SWC supposed to stay on current route

- Pueblo wants a station

- Colorado wants to have a train from Pueblo to Denver

- Ski Train could return

Wow.

 

[afigg]

The Southwest Chief Re-Route? thread is not that difficult to find with a search for Southwest Chief.

The moderator may move your post (and my reply), but yes, with the announcement of the 2015 $15.2 million TIGER grant for track & signal maintenance and upgrades, the second TIGER grant awarded, the SWC is likely to stay on its current route. With a possible shift to run through Pueblo CO at some point, but that would cost money which may be difficult to line up.

 

[JNaismith]

Denver Post photo essay on track work on current SWC route in western KS and eastern CO

http://photos.denverpost.com/2015/11/07/amtraks-southwest-chief-train-photos/#1

 

[Eric S]

The population is certainly there for a successful intercity passenger rail service in the Fort Collins-Denver-Colorado Springs-Pueblo corridor (maybe extending north to Cheyenne and south into New Mexico). But, as is typically the case and *especially* here, freight rail congestion makes this a very long term and expensive proposition.

 

[greatcats]

Yes, I understand the route along the Colorado Front Range is congested with freight traffic, but the Raton Pass line certainly is not. Does anyone know if there was any truth to the post here or on Facebook that a week or so ago a freight was seen in the Raton Pass area? Or was somebody just stirring up rumors?

 

[SWCABQ34]

@greatcats As Far as I know I was reading there was a BNSF train that went over Trinidad. Plus BNSF crews are working to upgrade rail, ballast and ties between raton and rowe I heard.

 

[SWCABQ34]

Well I have a question why is there not a Southwest Chief thread since the title of this thread is SWC RE Route and we all know now the Chief will continue to rumble over Raton Pass for years to come...

 

[johnm]

wondering the same thing.... sitting in the LAUPT lounge awaiting the Chief right now... hopefully i dont get tossed outta bed crossing Kansas!

 

[SWCABQ34]

Johnm the track is slowly improving.

 

[afigg]

I was searching for links to 2016 TIGER VIII grant application news (FY2016 applications are due April 29) and found this memo document dated March 16, 2016 from CO DOT (7 page PDF) on planning for the TIGER VIII application for fixing up more of BNSF tracks. There is material there on TIGER and FASTLANE grants, including a TIGER application for a road project, but there is a useful summary of the funding breakdown, track work status, and proposed TIGER VIII requests on pages 4 & 5.

All the track work funded by the TIGER 6 and 7 grants is to be completed by the end of 2016. Pretty dang quick compared to most of the HSIPR funded projects.

Details
TIGER 6: Garden City, KS was the applicant for 48 miles and 12 grade crossings to be repaired or replaced. A federal grant of $12.5 M was secured. Ten of the 48 miles in this project were constructed in Kansas in late 2015. The remainder, including five miles in Colorado, is expected to be completed by Summer 2016.

TIGER 7: La Junta, CO was the applicant for 61 miles and 13 grade crossings to be repaired or replaced. A federal grant of $15.2 M was secured. The award was announced in Oct.2015, and FRA initiated discussions with La Junta in Dec. 2015. Final project engineering and cost estimation are nearly completed. This has allowed final environmental clearance work to be initiated. The target is a mid-June 2016 notice-to-proceed, with construction completed by the end of 2016.

TIGER 8: With 38 of 51 miles of the remaining track replacement in Colorado, it has been proposed that Lamar, CO be the applicant city this year. BNSF has offered to pay the costs of assembling the application due to the short time available to assemble the materials. CDOT has been asked to pledge $1 M in matching funds.

The proposed TIGER 8 application would request $26.7 million in funding towards a total of $38 million with Amtrak & BNSF each contributing $4 million. Odds of getting the entire $26.7 million are probably long, do they have a fallback plan if the awarded grant is $12 to $15 million? Fewer miles of track repaired probably. Well, that is if they get an TIGER grant award at all this year.