[Publius]

We're doing that in Washington State right now, and we're in the environmental impact phases of it. The state DOT is paying the BNSF to build a 110 mph third track for 20 miles that would be dedicated to our Cascades Service passenger trains owned by the state DOT and operated by Amtrak under contract.

The general rule is that the BNSF will gladly build you anything you want -- as long as you pay for it.

[Sam Cree]

Wonder what CSX would do?

[B-Chan]

The situation is much the same here in the D/FW metro area. BNSF maintains the signals and ROW for our excellent Trinity Railway Express commuter service, and Herzog runs the trainsets and provides accomodation under contract to TRE. The Trans-Texas Corridor lines will doubtless be organized along similar lines.

The trains themselves are clean and functional. The line runs a mix of stock: self-propelled Railway Diesel Cars (beautiful, reconditioned 1950s Budd RDCs!) for off-peak hours, and big, comfortable Bombardier double-decker club cars pulled by custom, integrated streamlined Diesel engines for peak times and special events. (There's a TRE station at American Airlines Center; taking the train to a Mavericks game beats heck out of fighting the arena traffic!)

Ridership on the TRE has far exceeded expectations -- so much so that the local council of governments is studying and expansion of the local heavy-rail transit system. UP has expressed interest in operating a second FW-Dallas TRE service along its current ROW through Arlington. (The Amtrak Superliner currently running on that line does not stop here; it's roaring with freight 24/7, however, and connects to the same station in downtown Dallas that the current TRE commuter service and the DART light-rail system use.) I hope this is done!

If it's not too personal, could you explain your role in the transportation industry?

Thanks for the links, by the way. Useful stuff!