Amtrak officials announced an upcoming change in the Texas Eagle schedule to facilitate down-state service in Illinois and possible new track usage between Fort Worth and Dallas.
The southbound Eagle (No. 21) will depart Chicago at 2 p.m. (1 hour, 20 minutes earlier than present) and northbound Eagle (No. 22) will depart San Antonio at 7 a.m. (1 hour earlier). Schedule changes should appear in the Oct., 2006 timetable.
The Amtrak officials spoke in Fort Worth at the Texas Association of Railroad Passengers (TXARP) annual meeting Sept. 9 before about 30 attendees.
With an earlier Chicago Union Station departure, the Eagle will allow passengers traveling to stops between Joliet and St. Louis an earlier travel window, officials said. This would complement the State House (No. 303).
Of greater interest is the ongoing study and communication between Amtrak and DFW commuter transit to reroute the Eagle from Union Pacific’s main freight line between Fort Worth and Dallas through Arlington to the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) trackage further north.
Current timetable for the 31 miles between Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center (ITC) and Dallas Union Station is 1 hour 35 minutes westbound No. 21, and 1 hour eastbound No. 22. Part of this padded timetable is to allow for long-term, long-time delays. many precipitated by the interlocking known as Tower 55, called by many the busiest rail junction in the nation, often with more than 100 movements a day. It lies just south of the Amtrak Station underneath a new I-35W and I-30 freeway interchange. Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe are the main carriers crossing.
An Eagle schedule change (times approximate) will reflect thusly for Fort Worth and Dallas, still on the UP main, through the interlocking arriving and departing (all times PM):
WB21 Current Ar Dal 1:20 Dp Dal 1:40 Ar FtW 3:15 Dp FtW 4:00
WB21 New (est.) Ar Dal 12:20 Dp Dal 12:40 Ar FtW 2:15 Dp FtW 3:00
EB22 Current Ar FtW 2:58 Dp FtW 3:20 Ar Dal 4:20 Dp Dal 4:30
EB22 New (est.) Ar FtW 1:58 Dp FtW 2:20 Ar Dal 3:20 Dp Dal 3:30
Commuter operations staff and Amtrak will track the new arrival and transit times on the current UP mainline trackage with an eye toward moving the Eagles to the TRE trackage, possibly Spring of 2007. Providing the Eagles are on schedule, this new timing would place them on the TRE heavy commuter trackage outside of the TRE peak ride-home times. UP dispatches on the TRE trackage and freight carriers do use the line, but freight use is light during peak commuting hours.
Hope this is not off-topic, but are there any plans to grade separate the antiquated Tower 55 level crossing?
Posted by Gilbert B Norman (Member # 1541) on :
quote:Originally posted by The Chief: Of greater interest is the ongoing study and communication between Amtrak and DFW commuter transit to reroute the Eagle from Union Pacific’s main freight line between Fort Worth and Dallas through Arlington to the Trinity Railway Express (TRE) trackage further north.
While I should rightly defer to other members here such as Mr. Resor who likely have more detailed knowledge, my understanding was that Trinity was "not too receptive' over allowing Amtrak access to their Rock Island trackage.
TRE is not under any obligation to provide Amtrak access pursuant to RPSA '70 , as predecessor Rock Island did not join Amtrak. The quickest way I know to provoke a cat fight is to have a Federal agency start imposing their will upon a Local agency. Federal agencies have their way of doing such, and I would hardly consider Amtrak exempt from such practices.
Posted by The Chief (Member # 2172) on :
quote:Originally posted by Gilbert Norman: ...provoke a cat fight is to have a Federal agency start imposing their will upon a Local agency.
1. No cat fight; contrary to that, they're running two trains over the tracks Tuesday. 2. TREis talking to Amtrak; there's no imposition of wills.
BTW, I think Resor's in New Jersey. I'm in Texas and ride the TRE every day.
Posted by rresor (Member # 128) on :
Yes, I AM in New Jersey. On the other hand, TRE has been a client and my information came from a TRE employee. Since I've now changed jobs, I can speak a little more freely. TRE was simply concerned that a late Amtrak train could trash their rush hour; perhaps the new agreement provides measures to avoid that.
Amtrak use of TRE is an eminently good idea; it avoids the reverse move into or out of Ft. Worth, and the two transits of Tower 55 needed for each train movement.
I thought use of TRE by Amtrak was an excellent idea, and said so at the time to TRE (this was about three years ago). I'm glad to hear they've had a change of heart.
Posted by The Chief (Member # 2172) on :
rresor, good to know. Glad you spoke up a few years ago. TRE (The T)'s prez Dick Ruddell was at the TexARP meeting so he's aware of what's going on.
From what I gathered, the sked change is the first step toward the Eagle's move to the new trackage. Both sides want to facilitate the smooth ops of the TRE's afternoon rush hours.
Avoiding the Tower 55 traffic and reverses will make it a drive-thru for the Eagle in Fort Worth.
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
IIRC this wouldn't have even been physically possible a few years ago (either that or it would have been difficult), regardless of a lack of any signing to "RPSA '70". The Fort Worth area was remodelled for the then-new ITC, giving TRE more direct access to the ITC.
Halving the number of Amtrak movements over Tower 55 - and having them all in the *right* direction - can only be good news.
Fort Worth to Dallas can certainly be done quicker than the scheduled time. Forty-five minutes on a 3-hour late Eagle a couple of years ago, with barely a few seconds wait between reversing out of Fort Worth and moving forwards to Dallas, plus a couple of weaves to get around a same-direction freight.
Geoff M.
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
Let's revisit tower 55 for a second. By my count on the current route each Texas Eagle must pass tower 55 three times.
Say train 22 for instance. It must
1) pull forward past the tower into the Ft. Worth passenger station.
2) back out completely past the tower again upon departing the Ft. Worth station.
and
3) enter the tower 55's former interlocking plant a third time when turning from facing north to facing east toward Dallas.
A reroute onto TRE makes Ft. Worth a run-through station and eliminates 66% of the trips (and opportunity for delay) through the tower 55 interlocking.
Tell TRE and Amtrak that I vote 'yes'.
Posted by rtabern (Member # 4306) on :
Ah, instead of 22 getting into Chicago at like 12:40am, I guess that means it will get in at 11:40pm instead. Just kidding (even though that happened to me 4 weeks ago!)
Posted by George Harris (Member # 2077) on :
Before TRE came into being, it was also not possible to access the former CRIP route used by TRE directly from the Dallas end. The track and turnout(s) that allowed direct access to the CRIP and MKT tracks had been removed. There was a crossing diamond only with the CRIP/MKT track on the track from the Union Station tracks to the turnout into the ex T&P main west. If you wanted to get to the MKT/CRIP, you had to go out the southe end of Union Station and then go past it on the ex T&P main. This situation obviously was changed with the advent of TRE.
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
I haven't studied my maps yet, but with the re-route of the Texas Eagle on TRE trackage, would AMTRAK then come into Ft. Worth from Dallas from the north and exit the station to the south onto the regular route? Is the route all CRIP? I thought the Heartland Flyer, which exits FTW to the north, was basically on BNSF (ex-ATSF) trackage. Is that part of the route the same as TRE?
Posted by notelvis (Member # 3071) on :
Hi Rich,
In a word 'yes'. By moving to the TRE route, the Eagle could operate through Ft. Worth making it's station stop without requiring a back-up move.
The Transportation Center is just west of the AT&SF line but TRE trains do not use the AT&SF at all. Instead, TRE trains use a new section of track to reach the old CRI&P. They depart Ft. Worth for Dallas moving northward and downgrade. Within a city block they curve east passing underneath both an existing building and the north-south former AT&SF line that the Heartland Flyer uses.
The Heartland Flyer actually uses an 'escape track' halfway down the platform in order to shunt over (and a little up) to reach the Santa Fe trackage when departing northbound.
EDIT - Geoff M's link below graphically illustrates exactly what I have attempted to describe in my posts. Thanks for finding that.
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
This link might help, though I cannot vouch for its accuracy. Unfortunately it doesn't show the Tower 55 area completely.
The Eagle arrives from San Antonio on the north/south BNSF-UP double track at the bottom right of the picture. Once it has completed its station duties, it backs out the same way it came, to a point just south of the tower. Not shown on the map is a north-to-east connection, allowing the train to move eastwards to Dallas.
The new connection I was alluding to is what is in blue - the duck-under the green BNSF tracks to the top of the picture. That heads off towards Dallas and is the route of the TRE line. That arrives in Dallas from the north, joining with the aforementioned current route of the Eagle in the same direction - and what appears to be a new physical connection if I understand George correctly.
Directions are compass directions, not necessarily railroad directions.
Geoff M.
Posted by RRRICH (Member # 1418) on :
Geoff and David - thanks a lot!! Your map is great, Geoff!! I will save that and use it the next time I update my AMTRAK maps.
Posted by Geoff M (Member # 153) on :
No problem, though please note it's not my map. Dallas to Forth Worth is something I've taken an interest in over the years. Why? Density I guess, as Tower 55 supposedly sees up to 120 movements a day and has a 70% occupancy rate. I've seen a few suggestions for improving the area, such as a trench for the east-west route, a trench for the north-south route, inner city bypasses, and outer city bypasses. Ironically none of the studies I saw estimated *how* the conflictions occur - all the bypasses do is to shift the problem elsewhere.
Geoff M.
Posted by jp1822 (Member # 2596) on :
This is not necessarily a new departure time out of San Antonio for the Eagle. I believe I rode the train when it was departing at 7:00 a.m. at one time. As for the earlier departure southbound from Chiacgo - at least it will get to its final destination at a little earlier - if Amtrak didn't take advantage of extra padding in the schedule. I assume northbound, first diner service will be still be lunch, and southbound you will still be able to get dinner in the diner? Not sure what time this train arrives/departs Austin, where I believe the onboard diner crew is based out of.