Written by Bruce E. Kelly, Contributing Editor, Railway Age Magazine; September 26, 2017
Track projects this summer in northern Idaho are expanding capacity on a busy segment of BNSF’s Northern Corridor, and upgrading conditions on Union Pacific’s route to the Canadian border.
UP announced in June that it was “boosting safety and efficiency with an approximately $34.1 million infrastructure investment in Idaho this year.” In northern Idaho, that investment has involved $13.3 million to replace 29 miles of rail (particularly in curves) from Athol northward to Eastport (where UP interchanges with Canadian Pacific), $9.9 million to clean and replace ballast between Athol and Naples, and $1.8 million to replace 8,265 ties between Athol and Eastport.