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Southwest Chief

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Southwest Chief
Southwest Chief at Los Cerrillos, New Mexico, 2017
Overview
Service typeInter-city rail, higher speed rail
LocaleMidwestern and Southwestern United States
PredecessorSuper Chief, El Capitan
First serviceMarch 7, 1974 (1974-03-07)
Current operator(s)Amtrak
Annual ridership253,838 (FY23) Increase 13.5%[a][1]
Route
TerminiChicago, Illinois
Los Angeles, California
Stops31
Distance travelled2,265 miles (3,645 km)
Average journey time43 1⁄4 hours
Service frequencyDaily
Train number(s)3 (westbound)
4 (eastbound)
On-board services
Class(es)Coach Class
Sleeper Service
Disabled accessTrain lower level, all stations
Sleeping arrangements
  • Roomette (2 beds)
  • Bedroom (2 beds)
  • Bedroom Suite (4 beds)
  • Accessible Bedroom (2 beds)
  • Family Bedroom (4 beds)
Catering facilitiesDining car, Café
Observation facilitiesSightseer lounge car
Baggage facilitiesOverhead racks, checked baggage available at selected stations
Technical
Rolling stockGE Genesis
Superliner
Track gauge4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Operating speed55 mph (89 km/h) (avg.)
90 mph (140 km/h) (top)
Track owner(s)BNSF

The Southwest Chief (formerly the Southwest Limited and Super Chief) is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 2,265-mile (3,645 km) route between Chicago and Los Angeles through the Midwest and Southwest via Kansas City, Albuquerque, and Flagstaff. Amtrak bills the route as one of its most scenic, with views of the Painted Desert and the Red Cliffs of Sedona, as well as the plains of Iowa, Kansas, and Colorado.

During fiscal year 2019, the Southwest Chief carried 338,180 passengers, an increase of 2.1% from FY 2018.[3] The route grossed US$43,184,176 in revenue during FY 2018, a 3.8% decrease from FY 2017.[4]

History

The Southwest Chief is the successor to the Super Chief, which was inaugurated in 1936 as the flagship train of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. For most of its existence, it was "all-Pullman", carrying sleeping cars only. The Santa Fe merged the Super Chief with its all-coach counterpart, the El Capitan, in 1958. The merged train was known as the Super Chief/El Capitan, but retained the train numbers used by the Super Chief, 17 westbound and 18 eastbound.

Amtrak retained the Super Chief/El Capitan after taking over passenger rail service on May 1, 1971. During summer 1972, it was complimented by the Chief, reviving the name of another notable Chicago–Los Angeles sleeper train operated by the Santa Fe. Amtrak truncated the name to just Super Chief in 1973 and, on March 7, 1974, renamed it Southwest Limited after Santa Fe forced Amtrak to discontinue using the Chief brand on its former trains because of a perceived decline in quality after the Amtrak takeover. After subsequent improvements, the Santa Fe allowed Amtrak to change the name to Southwest Chief on October 28, 1984.

During 1997–98, Amtrak operated the Southwest Chief in conjunction with the Washington–Chicago Capitol Limited. The two trains used the same Superliner equipment sets, and passengers traveling on both trains could remain aboard during the layover in Chicago. Originally announced in 1996, Amtrak planned to call this through service National Chief and give it its own numbers (15/16), but the name and numbers were never used. Amtrak dropped the practice with the May 1998 timetable.[5][6][7]

Accidents and incidents

On October 2, 1979, the Southwest Limited derailed at Lawrence, Kansas. Of the 30 crew and 147 passengers on board, two were killed and 69 were injured. The cause was excessive speed on a curve. Underlying causes included the engineer's unfamiliarity with the route and speed restriction signage having been removed during track repairs.[8]

On August 9, 1997, the eastbound Southwest Chief derailed about 5 miles northeast of Kingman, Arizona, when a bridge, its undergirding washed out by a flash flood, collapsed under the weight of the train, which was traveling close to 90 miles per hour (140 km/h). While the lead locomotive stayed on the track, the three trailing locomotives, nine passenger cars, and seven baggage and mail cars derailed. All stayed upright. Of the 325 passengers and crew aboard, 154 were injured and none were killed.[9]

On October 16, 1999, the westbound Southwest Chief suffered a minor derailment near Ludlow, California, following the Hector Mine earthquake. All the cars stayed upright, and four passengers were injured.[10]

On March 14, 2016, the Southwest Chief derailed 3 miles (4.8 km) from Cimarron, Kansas. Of 14 crew and 128 passengers, 20 were injured. Investigators determined the train derailed after the tracks were knocked out of alignment by a runaway truck from a nearby farm operation that had rolled down a hill and struck the tracks after its owners failed to secure the parking brake.[11][12]

On June 27, 2022, the eastbound Southwest Chief derailed after striking a dump truck at a level crossing near Mendon, Missouri. Of 12 crew and 275 passengers, 3 deaths and 150 injuries have been reported; the driver of the truck also died.[13][14]

Operations

Boy Scouts unload their equipment at Raton in 2011.
Southwest Chief #4 arriving at Trinidad, CO
Southwest Chief #3 stopping at Albuquerque station

Unique among all long-distance Superliner trains, the Southwest Chief is permitted to run up to a maximum of 90 mph (145 km/h) along significant portions of the route because of automatic train stop installed by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Given Amtrak's projected 41-hour travel time,[15] the average speed is in excess of 55 mph (89 km/h), including stops.

During the spring and summer, Volunteer Rangers with the Trails and Rails program from the National Park Service travel on board and provide a narrative between La Junta, Colorado, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Starting in May 2013, Volunteer Rangers with Trails and Rails will also be on board, providing a narrative between Chicago and La Plata, Missouri.

From June through August, the Southwest Chief is used by Boy Scouts traveling to and from Philmont Scout Ranch via the Raton station. During those months, Raton station is staffed by Amtrak employees and handles checked baggage.

This route was one of five studied for possible performance improvements by Amtrak in FY 2012.[16]

Equipment

Sample consist
August 23, 2019
LocationRaton, New Mexico
Train4
  • GE P42DC #154
  • GE P42DC #189
  • Viewliner Baggage car #61049
  • Superliner II transition-dorm #39033
  • Superliner II Sleeping car # 32091 "Minnesota"
  • Superliner I Sleeping car # 32068 "Wind Cave"
  • Superliner I Dining car # 38004
  • Superliner I Sightseer Lounge # 33016
  • Superliner I Coach # 34004
  • Superliner I Coach-Baggage # 31007
  • Superliner I Coach-Baggage # 31012

A fourth Superliner coach may be added during peak travel periods. Usually a fourth coach is added and then removed in Kansas City, MO due to extra demand. The high speeds along the BNSF Marceline Subdivision allow for considerable travel times from Kansas City to Chicago. Sometimes, private cars or deadhead cars can be seen riding along, also.[17]

Route

Southwest Limited dome car, 1974. Photo by Charles O'Rear.
Amtrak Eng. 69 on the Southwest Chief at Barstow, California in 1999

In 1979, the Southwest Chief's route between Kansas City and Emporia was shifted in order to maintain service to Topeka and Lawrence, which would otherwise have lost service when the Texas Chief was discontinued.

Prior to 1996, the Southwest Chief operated between Chicago and Galesburg, Illinois, via Joliet, Streator, and Chillicothe on the ATSF's Chillicothe Subdivision. Following the merger of the Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe in 1996, BNSF constructed a connector track at Cameron, Illinois, which allowed freight and passenger trains to transfer between the BN Mendota Subdivision and the Chillicothe Subdivision.[18] The Chief was rerouted on the old Burlington Northern through Naperville, Princeton, and Mendota to Galesburg, a route shared with the California Zephyr, Illinois Zephyr, and Carl Sandburg.

In January 1994, the Southwest Chief was rerouted between San Bernardino and Los Angeles onto the Santa Fe Third District via Fullerton and Riverside. Previously, it served Pasadena and Pomona via the Santa Fe Pasadena Subdivision, which was closed to all through traffic following damage to a bridge over the eastbound lanes of Interstate 210 in Arcadia during the Northridge Earthquake.

There were plans to add service to Pueblo and connecting with the proposed Front Range regional rail service between Denver and Pueblo. It would have also run along former Colorado & Southern tracks through Walsenburg, reconnecting with its current alignment at Trinidad. A more recent plan is to run a section of the train to Colorado Springs, Colorado via Pueblo.[19]

In May 2022, the Missouri General Assembly approved $1 million of state funds to establish a Southwest Chief infill station in Carrollton, between the Kansas City and Marceline stations. If approved by the governor, the state funds would have to be matched by local agencies.[20][21]

Issues on midsection of route

The part of the Southwest Chief's route in western Kansas, southeastern Colorado, and northeastern New Mexico faced uncertainty throughout the 2010s.

In 2010, BNSF said that Amtrak would have to pay for all track maintenance on the portion of the Southwest Chief's route between La Junta and Lamy, because BNSF does not run any freight trains over this segment.[22] BNSF also said that they would be lowering the track class on the portion of the Southwest Chief's route between Hutchinson and La Junta from Class IV to Class III and decreasing the passenger train speed limit from 79 mph (127 km/h) to 60 mph (97 km/h).

In return, BNSF proposed rerouting the Southwest Chief from the affected sections of track to its Southern Transcon via Wichita, Amarillo, and Clovis—the same route once used by the San Francisco Chief. To avoid a reroute, Amtrak sought help from the affected states—Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico.[23] The states eventually contributed money toward rebuilding and rehabilitating the tracks—much of it obtained from federal transportation grants—and the route was not changed.

However, this same part of the Southwest Chief's route was threatened again in 2018 when it became the focal point of a struggle to determine whether to continue Amtrak as a national network or to operate regional stand-alone networks.[24] The issue arose when Amtrak introduced new requirements for the third renewal grant and raised previously undiscussed technical issues.[25] A letter dated May 31, 2018, co-signed by 11 Senators, condemned the action and urged providing the match.[26] In an open letter, former Amtrak President and CEO Joseph H. Boardman said, "The Southwest Chief issue is the battleground whose outcome will determine the fate of American’s national interconnected rail passenger network".[24]

In June, Amtrak announced that it was considering the replacement of rail service along the Kansas portion of the Southwest Chief with Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach buses between Albuquerque and Dodge City, where train service east to Chicago would resume.[27] Senators in the affected area succeeded in offering an amendment to a funding bill. Per a press release from the office of co-sponsor Senator Jerry Moran, "This amendment would provide resources for maintenance and safety improvements along the Southwest Chief route and would compel Amtrak to fulfill its promise of matching funding for the successful TIGER IX discretionary grant ... In addition, this amendment would effectively reverse Amtrak’s decision to substitute rail service with bus service over large segments of the route through FY2019".[28]

Amtrak Southwest Chief (interactive map)

Ridership

Traffic by Fiscal Year (October–September)
Ridership Change over previous year Ticket Revenue Change over previous year
2007[29] 316,668 - $37,935,113 -
2008[29] 331,143 Increase04.6% $41,079,865 Increase08.3%
2009[29] 318,025 Decrease04.0% $38,033,503 Decrease07.4%
2010[30] 342,403 Increase07.7% $41,604,705 Increase09.4%
2011[30] 354,912 Increase03.7% $44,184,060 Increase06.2%
2012[31] 355,316 Increase00.1% $44,183,540 Decrease00.0%
2013[31] 355,815 Increase00.1% $45,129,813 Increase02.1%
2014[32] 352,162 Decrease01.0% $44,631,296 Decrease01.1%
2015[32] 367,267 Increase04.3% $44,904,314 Increase00.6%
2016[33] 364,748 Decrease00.7% $43,184,176 Decrease03.8%
2017[34] 363,000 Decrease00.5% - -
2018[35] 331,239 Decrease08.7% - -
2019[35] 338,180 Increase02.1% - -
2020[36] 186,470 Decrease043.0% - -

Notes

  1. ^ Amtrak's Fiscal Year (FY) runs from October 1 of the prior year to September 30 of the named year.

References

  1. ^ "Amtrak Fiscal Year 2023 Ridership" (PDF). Amtrak. November 27, 2023. Retrieved November 30, 2023.
  2. ^ "History of Seligman, Arizona". Seligmanhistory.com. Archived from the original on December 30, 2009. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
  3. ^ https://media.amtrak.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/FY19-Year-End-Ridership [dead link]
  4. ^ http://media.amtrak.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Amtrak-FY16-Ridership-and-Revenue-Fact-Sheet-4_17_17-mm-edits.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  5. ^ "Amtrak National Timetable". Timetables.org. November 10, 1996. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
  6. ^ "Amtrak National Timetable". Timetables.org. May 11, 1997. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
  7. ^ "Amtrak National Timetable". Timetables.org. May 17, 1998. Archived from the original on July 28, 2011. Retrieved March 14, 2010.
  8. ^ "Derailment of Amtrak train No. 4 The Southwest Limited on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company Lawrence, Kansas October 2, 1979" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. April 29, 1980. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 17, 2017. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  9. ^ Riccardi, Nicholas; Gorman, Tom (August 10, 1997). "Train From L.A. Derails in Arizona; 154 Injured". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on November 22, 2016. Retrieved November 22, 2016.
  10. ^ Dvorak, John (February 4, 2014). Earthquake Storms: An Unauthorized Biography of the San Andreas Fault. New York: Open Road Media. p. 264. ISBN 9781480447868. Archived from the original on November 22, 2016.
  11. ^ "Amtrak train derails in Kansas". BBC News. March 14, 2016. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved March 14, 2016.
  12. ^ ""Amtrak train derails near Cimarron". Dodge City Daily Globe. March 14, 2016. Archived from the original on March 15, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  13. ^ Shapiro, Emily (June 27, 2022). "Amtrak train with 243 passengers on board derails in Missouri; injuries reported". ABC7 San Francisco. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
  14. ^ "NTSB: Amtrak train was below speed limit before fatal crash". AP News. June 28, 2022. Retrieved June 30, 2022.
  15. ^ "Southwest Chief Schedule" (PDF). Amtrak. May 30, 2018. Retrieved June 3, 2018.
  16. ^ "PRIIA Section 210 FY12 Performance Improvement Plan" (PDF). Amtrak. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 19, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  17. ^ "On Track On Line – Superliner Sleeper Names". on-track-on-line.com. Retrieved April 12, 2021.
  18. ^ "Galesburg to Streator". Donwinter.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  19. ^ "Senators land $225k to study adding Amtrak spur in Colorado Springs". KOAA News 5 Southern Colorado. February 29, 2020. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  20. ^ Tingerthal, Tom (May 9, 2022). "Carrollton Approved For AMTRAK Stop Funding". KCHI Radio. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  21. ^ "State Rep. Peggy McGaugh and State Sen. Denny Hoskins Announce Funding for Amtrak Station in Carrollton". The Missouri Times. May 9, 2022. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
  22. ^ Zimmermann, Karl (September 2, 2019). "Amtrak's Southwest Chief lives to ride the rails another day". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 3, 2019.
  23. ^ Fred W. Frailey, "Minus its backbone, Amtrak makes a tempting target," Trains, August 2010, 18.
  24. ^ a b Joseph A. Boardman, "Where is the public input? Where is the transparency?" Railway Age, May 10, 2018.
  25. ^ Jim Souby, "Amtrak gets big boost from Congress, grant from DOT, reviews long-distance trains," ColoRail Passenger, Issue 84, 2018, 5.
  26. ^ ""We write to express our deep concern... "" (PDF).
  27. ^ Ben Kuebrich, "Amtrak May End Passenger Rail Service In West Kansas. Moran: 'Amtrak Is Not Doing Its Job'", KCUR
  28. ^ Senate Approves Moran, Udall Amendment to Maintain Southwest Chief Train Services Senator Jerry Moran official website Aug. 1, 2018
  29. ^ a b c "Amtrak Fiscal Year 2009, Oct. 2008-Sept. 2009" (PDF). Trains Magazine. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2013. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  30. ^ a b "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 8, 2012. Retrieved July 30, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  31. ^ a b "AMTRAK Sets Record and Moves Nation's Economy Forward" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 24, 2020.
  32. ^ a b "Amtrak FY15 Ridership & Revenue" (PDF).
  33. ^ "Amtrak FY16 Ridership & Revenue" (PDF). Amtrak. April 17, 2017.
  34. ^ "Amtrak FY17 Ridership" (PDF).
  35. ^ a b "Amtrak FY19 Ridership" (PDF).
  36. ^ Luczak, Marybeth (November 23, 2020). "Amtrak Releases FY 2020 Data". Railway Age. New York: Simmons-Boardman Publishing Inc. Retrieved February 18, 2020.
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