The Transcon is one of the most heavily trafficked rail corridors in the western United States: as of 2006[update], an average of almost 90 trains daily (over 100 trains on peak days) passed over the section betweenBelen andClovis, New Mexico, with each train typically 6,000 to 8,000 feet (1,800 to 2,400 m) long.[1]
The route was less than ideal, especially where it crossedRaton Pass andGlorieta Pass. The steepgrades posed operational problems, including congestion, slow speeds, and the need forhelper engines. As an interim solution, a second track, with a longer tunnel, was opened at Raton in 1908, but this simply added capacity, and the grades remained. In 1902 the Santa Fe began surveying a new cutoff that would bypass this segment entirely.
To complete the line between Texico and a point northwest ofBelen, New Mexico, the Santa Fe incorporated theEastern Railway of New Mexico in October 1902, and began construction of the Belen Cutoff the next January. The entire line was completed on July 1, 1908, allowing through freight trains to bypass the 3–3.5% grades of the old line for the maximum grade of 1.25% (atAbo Canyon) on the new line. (Most passenger trains continued to use Raton Pass so as to serve Colorado.) The Pecos Valley and Northeastern (but not its Texas subsidiaries, because ofArticle X of the Texas Constitution) was consolidated into the Eastern in March 1907, and in January 1912, the property of the Eastern was conveyed to the Santa Fe.[4]
To connect central Texas to this line, the Pecos and Northern Texas Railway completed the Coleman Cutoff, running southeast from Texico to the Santa Fe subsidiaryGulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway atColeman, in 1914. A third line was almost completed in the 1920s and 1930s, when the Santa Fe built the majority of the plannedDodge City– Colmor, NM (Colmor Cutoff), which would provide a second bypass of Raton (but not Glorieta), but construction stopped at Farley, and the line was torn up west ofBoise City in 1942.[5]: 18–31
The completion of the Belen Cutoff did not end improvements to the transcontinental route. The 47-mile (76 km) Ellinor Cutoff opened in 1924, cutting through theFlint Hills from the original main line atEllinor, Kansas, southwest toEl Dorado on the main line to Texas. This allowed trains bound for the Belen Cutoff to cut directly toMulvane, bypassingWichita to the southeast.[5]: 36–37 To the west, in Arizona, the Santa Fe constructed a new line betweenWilliams and Crookton, bypassing the sharp curves and steep grades of the line viaAsh Fork built by theAtlantic and Pacific Railroad in the 1880s.[4] The $19.3-million realignment opened on December 19, 1960, and the old line was abandoned west of thePhoenix connection at Ash Fork.[5]: 53 Smaller improvements included installation ofcentralized traffic control on the Belen Cutoff in the 1940s.[5]: 29 Also, by October 2018, the entire Southern Transcon was double-tracked, except for two bridges: over theMissouri River atSibley, Missouri, and crossing theSalt Fork Arkansas River atAlva, Oklahoma.[6]
Projects were underway to add triple- and even quadruple-track along the busiest parts.[7][8]
Union Pacific has trackage rights along the Transcon segment between Kansas City and Joliet, primarily used by its high-priority intermodal trains Z-CIG4 and G4CI, which run daily from Global 4 Terminal Intermodal Yard in Joliet toCity of Industry, California.[9]
The Southern Transcon railroad corridor is made up of the following BNSF rail lines which are referred to as subdivisions, in order from west to east.[10]
Parts of the route are utilized by passenger rail services — BNSF does not operate regular passenger trains outside of theChicago Subdivision.
Amtrak'sSouthwest Chief runs once daily in each direction on the Transcon, but via theGlorieta,Raton,La Junta Subdivision and Topeka between Albuquerque and Kansas City. ThePacific Surfliner also operates betweenLos Angeles andFullerton. Until its cancellation in 1997, Amtrak'sDesert Wind used the Southern Transcon between Los Angeles andBarstow. The proposedCoachella Valley Rail train from RCTC, which is anticipated to be operated by Amtrak, would initially run two roundtrips a day over the Transcon from LA Union Station to the Colton Crossing.
