The Southwest Chief (formerly the Southwest Limited and Super Chief) is a higher speed passenger train operated by Amtrak on a 2265-mile (3645Â km) route through the Midwestern and Southwestern United States. It runs between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California, passing through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
During fiscal year 2015, the Southwest Chief carried 367,267 passengers, up 4.3 percent from FY 2014. The route grossed $44,904,314 in revenue during FY 2015, a 0.6 percent increase from FY 2014.
History
The Southwest Chief is the successor to the Super Chief, which, along with the Chief and El Capitan, were notable Chicago-Los Angeles trains operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The Super Chief name was retained after Amtrak took over passenger rail service in 1971. Then in March 1974, the Santa Fe forced Amtrak to drop the name because of a perceived decline in quality after the Amtrak takeover. The train was renamed the Southwest Limited. After subsequent improvements, the Santa Fe allowed Amtrak to change its name to the Southwest Chief on October 28, 1984.
National Chief
Amtrak operated the Southwest Chief in conjunction with the Capitol Limited, a daily Washington DC-Chicago service, in 1997 and 1998. 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 the "National Chief" with its own numbers (15/16), although the name and numbers were never used. Amtrak dropped the practice with the May 1998 timetable.
Accidents and incidents
- On October 2, 1979, the Southwest Limited derailed at Lawrence, Kansas. Of the 30 crew and 147 passengers on board, two people were killed and 69 were injured. The cause was excessive speed on a curve. Underlying causes were that the engineer was unfamiliar with the route, and that signage indicating the speed restriction had been removed during track repairs.
- On August 9, 1997, the eastbound Southwest Chief derailed about five 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 ninety miles per hour. 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 people were injured and none were killed.
- 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.
- On March 14, 2016, the Southwest Chief derailed 3 miles (4.8Â km) from Cimarron, Kansas. Of 14 crew and 128 passengers, twenty were injured. Investigators determined the train derailed after the tracks were knocked out of alignment by a runaway truck from a nearby farm operation. The vehicle had rolled down a hill and struck the tracks after the owners had failed to secure the parking brake.
- On October 6, 2017, the eastbound Chief hit a boulder in New Mexico, which caused extremely bad delays to the service. It left Union Station (Los Angeles) the previous day just 4 minutes late. The latest it got was 22 hours 53 minutes, out of Princeton station (Illinois) and Mendota station. Interestingly, the next day's Chief was running on time the entire trip to Chicago.
Operations
The train consists of two P42 locomotives, one baggage car, one Superliner transition sleeping car, two Superliner sleeping cars, a Superliner dining car, a Superliner lounge car, and three Superliner coach cars (one of which is usually a coach-baggage car). A fourth Superliner coach may be added during peak travel periods.
Unique among all long-distance Superliner trains, the Southwest Chief is permitted to run up to a maximum of 90Â mph (145Â km/h) along significant portions of the route because of automatic train stop installed by the Santa Fe railroad. Given Amtrak's projected 41-hour travel time, the average speed is in excess of 55Â mph (including stops).
During the spring and summer months, Volunteer Rangers with the Trails & Rails program from the National Park Service travel onboard and provide a narrative between La Junta, Colorado, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Starting in May 2013, Volunteer Rangers with Trails & Rails will also be onboard 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 Amtrak 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.
Kansas downgrade
There is no BNSF freight service between La Junta, Colorado and Lamy, New Mexico, and the railroad informed Amtrak that all maintenance costs are to be paid by the passenger carrier if it wished to continue to use the route. BNSF also declared it will maintain trackage between Hutchinson, Kansas, and La Junta, at a Class III (60Â mph passenger train maximum) speed instead of Class IV (79Â mph passenger train maximum). BNSF offered to host the Southwest Chief over its Southern Transcon via Wichita and Wellington, Kansas, Amarillo, Texas, and Clovis, New Mexico, once used by the San Francisco Chief. Amtrak sought help from the states involved to retain existing service on the train's historic route. The states of Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico have since contributed money toward rebuilding the tracks and keeping the Chief on its current routing. Much of the funding for the rehabilitation projects has come from federal transportation grants.
Route changes
Until 1979, the train traversed a different route from Kansas City to Emporia. That year, it was rerouted via Topeka, Kansas to replace Amtrak service lost with the discontinuance of the Texas Chief. The reroute allowed Amtrak to maintain service to the Kansas state capital of Topeka and to Lawrence, home of the University of Kansas.
Prior to 1996, the Southwest Chief operated between Chicago and Galesburg, Illinois, via Joliet, Streator and Chillicothe on the ATSF's Chilicothe Subdivision. Following the merger of the Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe in 1996, a connecting track was installed at Cameron, Illinois in order to allow both freight and passenger trains to connect from the former Burlington Northern Mendota Subdivision to the Chilicothe subdivision. The Chief was rerouted on the old Burlington Northern through Naperville, Princeton, and Mendota to Galesburg This route segment is also served by Amtrak's California Zephyr, Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg.
In early 1994, near its western terminus, the train 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 Line, until that route was closed to all through-traffic. This resulted from ATSF selling that segment to the Los Angeles Metro for use as a light rail corridor. The Los Angeles Metro Gold Line now uses that stretch of right-of-way.
Commentary services
On certain days of the week, volunteer rangers with Bent's Old Fort National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, provide commentary for train passengers on the Southwest Chief between La Junta, Colorado and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Most programs take place only during the busy summer travel season. Talks presented cover such sites as Trinidad, the Purgatorie River, Raton Pass, and Apache Canyon. The Trails & Rails program is a partnership between Amtrak and the National Park Service, and is featured on trains across the country.
A second Trails & Rails program operated on the Southwest Chief from Chicago, Illinois to La Plata, Missouri between May 18, 2013 and July 19, 2015. It was co-sponsored by Texas A&M University and the non-profit American Passenger Rail Heritage Foundation (APRHF) in La Plata, Missouri. Volunteers presented two round-trip programs per week and covered such topics as the urban history of Chicago, the "breadbasket" areas of Central Illinois, the Mississippi River, the Mormon National Historical Trail, and the rolling hills of Northeast Missouri. In July 2015, the National Park Service decided to end its partnership with the APRHF, which had been providing most of the funding for the program. Docents went on to form the APRHF Rail Rangers, which provides similar services on private rail excursions and on the South Shore Line.
References
External links
- Media related to Southwest Chief at Wikimedia Commons
- Amtrak - Southwest Chief