Jim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dick Dorn Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Moyers removal of two sections of double track
> in
> > the snow removal zone was one of the best
> examples
> > of a CEO over ruling his people in the field
> who
> > said absolutely not. Moyers had no clue as to
> what
> > he was doing with the removal. It looked good
> on
> > paper and that's it. In short it has for sure
> > reduced flexibility of operations and caused
> > problems.
> >
> >
> > Dick Dorn
>
>
> Yeah, kind of like the Boeing 787. You save 1
> million dollars, but it's costs 5 million dollars
> later to fix it, but that's someone else's
> problem. If you can't put numbers on a
> beancounter's speadsheet that shows how it
> benefits in the short-term bottom line, then it
> has no value.
>
> Any chance the UP will ever put that track back
> in? I was in there area last year and saw the
> abandoned tunnel (#7, I think) and the abandoned
> track over the Chinese Wall and through the
> snowsheds. I knew they'd removed a second track,
> but I didn't realize the extend of it until being
> there.

Not likely. Traffic congestion over Donner and the former WP would have to reach intolerable levels. The UP will want the state to help foot the bill and they barely reached an agreement about increased state funding for the Donner line to run Capitols to Reno. UP allows Amtrak 2 daily roundtrips over Donner, now taken up by trains 5 and 6 and the Snow/Fun Trains. This may be another Amtrak motivation for nixing the SnowFun Trains, they want that second roundtrip slot for a Capitol test train. If Amtrak can prove the service will be highly patronized and cause little impact on UP operations, they have a case for more trains and more state and federal funding.