“Joe’s vision was to enlist our help and preserving the route, and that’s exactly what we did over the last eight years,” Klein says. “After this work is finished, there are another 27 miles of jointed rail left in western Kansas and Colorado, and we owe it to him to finish the job.”
Klein says the current improvements will create 29 miles of class 4 (79-mph) track for a net gain of 42 miles, including welded rail on curves BNSF Railway has already installed. The work includes tie replacement between Springer, N.M., and Las Vegas, N.M., addressing some signal system shortcomings, and rebuilding culverts in the Devils Throne area near Lamy, N.M., to mitigate damage from rock slides.
The engineering work advanced while Amtrak withheld its $3 million match to the $16 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant, Klein says, because “the language was in the appropriation, so we didn’t want to delay necessary preparations required before construction could begin.” He added, “We worked through the environmental process with the Federal Railroad Administration, BNSF Railway, Colfax County, N.M., and the three state [departments of transportation] while waiting for Amtrak’s decision.”
The impasse over the funds, which will lead to a total of $26 million in route improvements, was resolved last month when language in the federal budget compelled Amtrak to spend $50 million on the route. [See “Amtrak to post matching grant funds for Southwest Chief,” Trains News Wire, Feb. 27, 2019.]
The focus now will be getting a city sponsor and lining up more matching funds for a Consolidated Rail Infrastructure Safety and Improvement (CRISI) or a BUILD (Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development) grant in the next budget cycle. Klein is talking with city officials from communities such as Dodge City and Garden City in Kansas, and Lamar, Colo.
Although the BUILD grant requires a 20 percent match, it has a large rural component. La Junta, Garden City, and Colfax County, N.M., won the three previous TIGER grants, in part, because of unified stakeholder support.
Coupled with the $9 million federal CRISI grant for positive train control installation between Dodge City, Kan., and Las Animas, Colo., just east of La Junta, Klein says, “The combined grants and matches have already generated more than $100 million for Southwest Chief route improvements. We’re not about to stop now.”
Great thinking Roger! The powers that be need to hear your thoughts, have you written such things to your State and Federal Representatives and Senators? That’s the only way a lot of them learn these days is through feedback from constituents.
Now would be a good time to utilize the money spent on these infrastructure improvements to add additional connections to The Southwest Chief to Pueblo,Colorado Springs and Denver as well as El Paso. It would also be an opportune time to re-institute Emporia,KS as a stop and to finally extend The Heartland Flyer to Newton,KS so both the westbound and eastbound Chiefs could connect there. With these connections and a connection from Flagstaff,AZ to Phoenix and from Barstow to The San Francisco Bay Area along with some sensible marketing,I can foresee The Southwest Chief becoming a sixteen car passenger train with six coaches and six sleepers. Three coaches could be on each side of their own dedicated diner with a concept similar to a Cross Country Cafe with a more economical menu and any time (6am to 9pm) non reserved seating. The six sleepers would have three on each side of a traditional diner with a more upscale menu and traditional reserved seating. This consist would include The Sightseer Lounge with its’ fully stocked snack bar exactly at the middle of the train. After and when this new capacity is fully absorbed,it would be time to start planning for an additional frequency on the line (El Capitan?) which would,in effect give every city and town along the entire route trains at a reasonable time.
Roger Williams, I like your thinking, especially the Denver connection serving Pueblo and Colorado Springs and getting the Heartland Flyer connection sooner rather than later, the other ideas you have, should be seriously considered. The Superliner 1 equipment is going to have to be replaced in the “near” future, so the Denver, El Paso and San Francisco Bay Area would be in the new passenger equipment discussion.