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Re: Nisqually Junction question
Author: DCA
Date: 05-25-2019 - 21:30
The curve has been there for years. The track has to curve in order to align with the double-track main before entering the main at Nisqually. Of course for a lot of money, the curve could be rebuilt to be less severe. However, that would entail a new bridge over I-5 and obtaining the land necessary to widen out the curvature. Not cheap.
One thing that doesn't seem to have been mentioned much, if at all, is why Amtrak/WashDOT/Sound Transit didn't come up with the idea of a temporary maximum speed on the cut-off of perhaps 50 mph, for a week or two while the crews got familiar with both the district and the new locomotives. A common-sense, safety-oriented approach that would not have affected schedules at all, based on the shorter distance traveled as compared to the original route along the Puget Sound.
One thing that doesn't seem to have been mentioned much, if at all, is why Amtrak/WashDOT/Sound Transit didn't come up with the idea of a temporary maximum speed on the cut-off of perhaps 50 mph, for a week or two while the crews got familiar with both the district and the new locomotives. A common-sense, safety-oriented approach that would not have affected schedules at all, based on the shorter distance traveled as compared to the original route along the Puget Sound.
