View source for Southern Transcon

{{Short description|Rail corridor owned by BNSF Railway}}
{{Infobox rail line
| name             = Southern Transcon
| other_name       = 
| native_name      = 
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| color            = 
| logo             = 
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| logo_alt         = 
| image            = BNSF 7520 GE ES44DC in Mojave Desert.jpg
| image_width      = 
| image_alt        = BNSF freight train in California
| caption          = BNSF [[ES44DC]] No. 7520 leads on the Southern Transcon in the [[Mojave Desert]], [[California]]
| type             = [[Inter-city rail]]<br />[[Freight rail]]
| status           = <!-- Only use when line is not operating normally -->
| locale           = [[Southwestern United States|Southwestern]] and [[Midwest United States|Midwestern]] United States
| start            = [[Los Angeles]], [[California]]
| end              = [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]
| stations         = 
| routes           = 
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| planopen         = <!--{{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}-->
| open             = <!--{{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}-->
| yearcommenced    = <!--{{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}-->
| yearcompleted    = 1908<!--{{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}-->
| close            = <!--{{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}-->
| event1label      = Built by 
| event1           = [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]]
| event2label      = 
| event2           = 
| event3label      = 
| event3           = 
| owner            = [[BNSF Railway]]
| operator         = BNSF Railway<br />[[Amtrak]]
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| gauge            = {{Track gauge|ussg|allk=on}}
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| map_state        = uncollapsed
}}

The '''Southern Transcon''' is a main line of the [[BNSF Railway]] comprising 11 subdivisions between [[Southern California]] and [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]]. Completed in its current alignment in 1908 by the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]], when it opened the Belen Cutoff in [[New Mexico]] (going through eastern New Mexico, northwestern [[Texas]], briefly part of western [[Oklahoma]] and to [[Kansas]]) and bypassed the steep [[grade (slope)|grades]] of [[Raton Pass]] (which passes through northeastern New Mexico and southwestern Colorado), it now serves as a mostly [[double-track]]ed [[Intermodal freight transport|intermodal]] corridor.

The Transcon is one of the most heavily trafficked rail corridors in the western United States: {{As of|2006|lc=on}}, an average of almost 90 trains daily (over 100 trains on peak days) passed over the section between [[Belen, New Mexico|Belen]] and [[Clovis, New Mexico]], with each train typically {{convert|6000|to|8000|ft}} long.<ref>{{cite magazine| last=Frailey| first=Fred W.| title=Birthplace of the Transcon| magazine=Trains| date=April 2007}}</ref>

== History ==
The [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] completed a railroad between [[Chicago, IL|Chicago]] and [[Southern California]] in the 1880s. Much of the route had already been constructed by subsidiaries. The line in California between Needles and Mojave was built by the [[Southern Pacific Railroad]] to meet the [[St. Louis and San Francisco Railway]], which had built west from [[Isleta, New Mexico]]. They met at Needles with the line put into service in 1883. The [[Atlantic and Pacific Railroad]], then essentially an [[operating subsidiary]] of the AT&SF, leased<!--not bought - see the ICC valuations, and http://www.railsandtrails.com/SP/SP75YearsProgress/index.htm confirms--> the line from the SP in August 1884, and in November 1885 the AT&SF-owned [[California Southern Railroad]] completed its line over [[Cajon Pass]] to the SP's Needles branch at [[Barstow, CA|Barstow]], giving the AT&SF access to the west coast.<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://archive.org/details/annualreportboa54commgoog/page/n31 |title=Tenth Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of California for the Year Ending December 31, 1889 |date=1889 |pages= 11-15 |publisher=California Board of Railroad Commissioners}}</ref>

The [[Southern Kansas Railway]] built a branch to [[Amarillo, Texas]] in the 1880s, and the Pecos Valley and Northeastern Railway<!--this was the parent of the P&NT and Pecos River--> also built an extension from Amarillo to [[Pecos, Texas|Pecos]] via [[Texico, New Mexico]] in 1899.<ref>{{Handbook of Texas |id=eqp03 |name=Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway |author=George C. Werner |retrieved=January 2009}}</ref>

The route was less than ideal, especially where it crossed [[Raton Pass]] and [[Glorieta Pass]]. The steep [[grade (slope)|grades]] posed operational problems, including congestion, slow speeds, and the need for [[helper engine]]s. 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.

===Belen Cutoff===
To complete the line between Texico and a point northwest of [[Belen, New Mexico]], the Santa Fe incorporated the [[Eastern 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% (at [[Abo 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 of [[Article 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.<ref name=ICC>[[Interstate Commerce Commission]], 127 I.C.C. 1 (1927): Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company<!--relevant text at [[User:NE2/valuations/Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]]--></ref>

===Other improvements===
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 subsidiary [[Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway]] at [[Coleman, Texas|Coleman]], in 1914. A third line was almost completed in the 1920s and 1930s, when the Santa Fe built the majority of the planned [[Dodge City, Kansas|Dodge City]]–Colmer (Colmer Cutoff), which would provide a second bypass of Raton (but not Glorieta), but construction stopped at Farley, and the line was torn up west of [[Boise City, Oklahoma|Boise City]] in 1942.<ref name="Glischinski 2007">{{Glischinski-Santa Fe}}</ref>{{rp|18–31}}

The completion of the Belen Cutoff did not end improvements to the transcontinental route. The {{convert|47|mi|adj=on}} Ellinor Cutoff opened in 1924, cutting through the [[Flint Hills]] from the original main line at [[Ellinor, Kansas]], southwest to [[El Dorado, Kansas|El Dorado]] on the main line to Texas. This allowed trains bound for the Belen Cutoff to cut directly to [[Mulvane, Kansas|Mulvane]], bypassing [[Wichita, Kansas|Wichita]] to the southeast.<!--I'm not totally sure that the pre-1924 main route was via Wichita and Mulvane--><ref name="Glischinski 2007" />{{rp|36–37}} To the west, in Arizona, the Santa Fe constructed a new line between [[Williams, Arizona|Williams]] and Crookton, bypassing the sharp curves and steep grades of the line via [[Ash Fork, Arizona|Ash Fork]] built by the [[Atlantic and Pacific Railroad]] in the 1880s.<ref name=ICC /> The $19.3-million realignment opened on December 19, 1960, and the old line was abandoned west of the [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] connection at Ash Fork.<ref name="Glischinski 2007" />{{rp|53}} Smaller improvements included installation of [[centralized traffic control]] on the Belen Cutoff in the 1940s.<ref name="Glischinski 2007" />{{rp|29}} Also, by October 2018, the entire Southern Transcon was double-tracked, except for two bridges; and, projects were underway to add triple- and even quadruple-track along the busiest parts.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.bnsf.com/news-media/railtalk/service/southern-transcon.html |title= BNSF Railway's Southern Transcon: Rail's Super Highway|website=BNSF Railway|accessdate=December 5, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Stephens |first1=Bill |title=BNSF opens section of third main track on Needles Subdivision in California |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/bnsf-opens-section-of-third-main-track-on-needles-subdivision-in-california/ar-AA1hDJ1W?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=4dcb1fbc51744ac0921b4054a8a52ca2&ei=7 |access-date=3 October 2023 |work=Trains.com |publisher=MSN |date=3 October 2023}}</ref>

== Constituent rail lines ==
{{San Bernardino Subdivision}}{{Cajon Subdivision}}{{Needles Subdivision}}{{Seligman Subdivision}}{{Gallup Subdivision|collapse=y}}{{Clovis Subdivision|collapse=y}}{{Hereford Subdivision|collapse=y}}{{Panhandle Subdivision|collapse=y}}{{Emporia Subdivision|collapse=y}}{{Marceline Subdivision|collapse=y}}{{Chillicothe Subdivision|collapse=y}}
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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 1, 2011 |title=BNSF Subdivision Map |url=http://www.bnsf.com/ship-with-bnsf/maps-and-shipping-locations/pdf/subdivisions-map.pdf |website=BNSF Railway}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Subdivision
! State
|-
| San Bernardino
| rowspan="4" | California
|-
| [[Cajon Subdivision|Cajon]]
|-
| Needles
|-
| rowspan="2" | Seligman
|-
| rowspan="2" | Arizona
|-
| rowspan="2" | Gallup
|-
| rowspan="2" | New Mexico
|-
| Clovis
|-
| Hereford
| Texas
|-
| rowspan="3" | Panhandle
| Texas
|-
| Oklahoma
|-
| Kansas
|-
| Emporia
| Kansas
|-
| rowspan="2" | Marceline
| Missouri
|-
| rowspan="2" | Iowa
|-
| rowspan="2" | [[Chillicothe Subdivision|Chillicothe]]
|-
| Illinois
|}
{{clear}}

== Passenger trains ==
Parts of the route are utilized by passenger rail services&nbsp;— BNSF does not operate regular passenger trains outside of the [[Chicago Subdivision]].

[[Amtrak]]'s ''[[Southwest Chief]]'' runs once daily in each direction on the Transcon, but via the [[Glorieta Pass|Glorieta]], [[Raton Pass|Raton]], [[La Junta Subdivision]] and Topeka between Albuquerque and Kansas City. The ''[[Pacific Surfliner]]'' also operates between [[Los Angeles]] and [[Fullerton, California|Fullerton]]. Until its cancellation in 1997, Amtrak's ''[[Desert Wind]]'' used the Southern Transcon between Los Angeles and [[Barstow, California|Barstow]]. The proposed [[Coachella Valley–San Gorgonio Pass Rail Corridor Service|Coachella 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.

Southern California's [[Metrolink (California)|Metrolink]] [[commuter rail]] trains utilize the route between Los Angeles and [[San Bernardino]]. These include the [[Orange County Line]] (between Los Angeles and Fullerton), [[91/Perris Valley Line]] (between Los Angeles and Highgrove), and [[Inland Empire–Orange County Line]] (between Atwood and San Bernardino).

== See also ==
{{Portal|Trains}}
* [[Northern Transcon]]
* [[Central Corridor (Union Pacific Railroad)]]
* [[Fort Madison Toll Bridge]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
*[https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1xPQGpRAOgHOQTGsxTQTkOU5a4CD7Hzig&ll=37.40942511278041%2C-108.18237862034775&z=5 A user-made map of the full route on Google My Maps]

[[Category:BNSF Railway lines]]
[[Category:Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]]
[[Category:Rail lines in California]]
[[Category:Rail lines in Illinois]]
[[Category:Railway lines opened in 1908]]
[[Category:Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway lines]]
[[Category:Rail infrastructure in Arizona]]