SAN FRANCISCO - As California prepares to vote on a $9.95 billion bond measure to finance a statewide bullet-train network, the Union Pacific Corp railroad is warning advocates of the planned rail system that it will not share its right-of-way corridors. The No. 1 U.S. railroad, in a recent letter, told the California High Speed Rail Authority its tracks do not belong in the corridors. The notice came as a surprise amid a relatively smooth approach to the November election for the authority's long-awaited bond measure. <snip...> The system's passenger tracks would likely have to share, to some extent, Union Pacific's existing right-of-way corridors, and that is unacceptable, said Scott Moore, a vice president of public affairs for the railroad. "Regardless of where it is we're not interested," Moore said Monday, noting Union Pacific has plans of its own for its right-of-ways, with international trade through California's seaports on the upswing as Asian economies expand. Union Pacific sees a future in which it hauls more and more freight, potentially requiring new tracks for additional trains towing various types of cars, including those that carry double-stacked shipping containers. The railroad would need to expand within its existing corridors, such as its Sunset Route line linking Los Angeles and El Paso, Texas, and it would require room for growth in urban centers, such as in and around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California. "The capacity needed for the future is something we're very concerned about," Moore said.
The No. 1 U.S. railroad, in a recent letter, told the California High Speed Rail Authority its tracks do not belong in the corridors. The notice came as a surprise amid a relatively smooth approach to the November election for the authority's long-awaited bond measure.
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The system's passenger tracks would likely have to share, to some extent, Union Pacific's existing right-of-way corridors, and that is unacceptable, said Scott Moore, a vice president of public affairs for the railroad.
"Regardless of where it is we're not interested," Moore said Monday, noting Union Pacific has plans of its own for its right-of-ways, with international trade through California's seaports on the upswing as Asian economies expand.
Union Pacific sees a future in which it hauls more and more freight, potentially requiring new tracks for additional trains towing various types of cars, including those that carry double-stacked shipping containers.
The railroad would need to expand within its existing corridors, such as its Sunset Route line linking Los Angeles and El Paso, Texas, and it would require room for growth in urban centers, such as in and around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California.
"The capacity needed for the future is something we're very concerned about," Moore said.
In the case of the UP, there is an ongoing battle with Amtrak. Schedules are never met, diversions of passenger traffic to busses is common, and generally they don't get along.
The BNSF, on the other hand, mixes the Amtrak traffic in with the freight traffic and provides reasonably good schedule predictability. The BNSF also runs some passenger service in the Chicago area.
The U.S. west was populated entirely after railroads were invented, so practically every town and city has vestiges of a rail system still in place. It would not be impossible to get the American rail system back to the point where it was in the 1920s when it peaked.
That's not exactly the same as a modern high-speed rail system, though.
