Re: Mixed use-no way.....it will never happen.
Author: BOB2
Date: 07-03-2015 - 07:49
Not!
No way would UP or ACE, after having spent $6-10 million or more a mile to tear out the 85 lb. rail and replacing it with 115 lb. rail and concrete ties, new signals, etc. will PLA be using that segment on the weekend, which would also be needed for maintenance windows, too.
Anyone who thinks that these operators would ever allow such a mix of modern freight and passenger operations with tourist volunteers, on such a "part time" basis is dreaming, for the reasons stated in the previous posts.
ACE is also looking at becoming a real railroad, that would offer much needed weekend service like Caltrain and Metrolink, so the weekend only PLA pipedream, is just that. It is not an option that is likely or viable, so a real plan B will likely be needed for either ACE/UP or PLA, if this comes to pass.
I think the current ACE proposal on this is poorly thought out and scoped, at this point, as I noted in the earlier post. This is because DT on the WP side may make more sense, and it may be no more expensive to do that, even with tunnel widening.
When I did this kind of planning, I always preferred to do the analysis first for these kind of things, before announcing the "preferred" option, and those would be among my comments to ACE on this option.