cirdan
Engineer
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2011
- Messages
- 3,863
Sorry to quote my own posts, but what i'm essentially saying is that we hear so much whining that all would be better for Amtrak if they actually owned the tracks and could do with tham as they pleased. And hear they have an opportunity to actual own a siginificant chunk and they are saying, go and trash this, we prefer to go on a busy route with lots of freight and potential delays.Some freight maybe? I'm not even sure whether all freight cars are allowed to be run at such speeds.
And what would happen if BNSF needed to run further trains on the Transcon? Could they squeeze the SWC out? With no alternative route, that could be the end of things, or alternatively it could be the beginning of a slow death agony, like the Sunset Limited. And if we're honest, it's fairly obvious UPRR wants to kill that train, and unless something big happens, it will one day have its way. Okay, I know BNSF has a more positive attitude to Amtrak. But management can change. Nothing is set in stone. So in my opinion its a dangerous gamble.
It sort of makes the "own the tracks" argument fall flat.