The Track south of Boise was purchased by the City of Boise to keep it in place for the possibility Amtrak will return to Southern Idaho. Union Pacific kept one mile of track from the junction at Orchard north. All track/switches are still in place. UP track is listed as FRA excepted.

The City of Boise has at times leased the track to Union Pacific to store cars on. That proved very lucrative for the City of Boise. The City of Boise has signed a deal with Watco/Boise Valley Railroad to have BVRR do minimal maintenance on the city owned track. Motive Power is also able to use part of the track to test new locomotives on. Currently MPI track tests use the northern 3 or so miles of City of Boise track.

As for the BVRR shipping MotivePower units south to orchard, there are many reasons why this is a VERY bad idea.

First, MPI is NOT the only business that ships by rail from south east Boise.

Second, Leaving a new multi-million dollar locomotive sitting unprotected out in the Idaho desert is a very bad idea. It would be shot full of bullet holes and robed of anything of value within a day.

Thirdly, interchanging at Orchard would require UP to stop trains in the middle of nowhere to pick up the traffic or they would have the Gooding Local bring the cars back to Nampa anyway.

There are several other reasons but for here, Lastly, It is not much shorter from MPI/Hillcrest area to Orchard than it is MPI/HIllcrest area to Nampa.