Powder River Basin triple-track project completed (January 1996)
1/22/2023The Powder River Basin's first stretch of triple track was put into service last month with the opening of the 9.75-mile Orin line.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe and Union Pacific jointly own the line and shared the $14.6 million cost, leaving the 127-mile stretch of track with only 16 miles that are not double- or triple-tracked.
The new triple track will help eliminate a bottleneck caused by a 1% grade, allowing the railroads to run two heavy-unit coal trains up the hill and return empties on the third track.
Source: The January 1996 issue of Progressive Railroading