Alaska Railroad

Seward-Fairbanks
Alaska Railroad logo
Route length:	750 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend Delta Junction under construction / planned Eielson Air Force Base North Pole Connections at Fairbanks International Airport Fairbanks Tanana River Nenana Anderson Ferry Nenana River Lignite Healy Denali McKinley Park Cantwell Chulitna River Colorado Honolulu Creek Hurricane Gulch Granite Creek Hurricane Susitna River curry Talkeetna River Talkeetna Wasilla Palmer Krik River Chugiak Fort Richardson Anchorage Anchorage International Airport Twentymile River Portage Whittier Trail river Woodrow Seward

The Alaska Railroad ( ARR ) is an American railroad company . The route network consists today, apart from a few side tracks, exclusively from a main line, which leads from Seward in southern Alaska to Fairbanks in the center of the state. It is isolated from the rest of the North American rail network and covers a length of 750 kilometers. The Alaska Railroad is the only US state railway alongside Amtrak .

In 2014 the company carried 468,661 passengers and around 4.92 million tons of cargo.

history

Construction of the main line

In 1902 the private Alaska Central Railway (ACR) was founded with the aim of connecting the gold fields at Fairbanks and the coal fields at Matanuska with the port in Seward. On April 16, 1904, the construction of the northbound standard-gauge line began near Seward . After the completion of 82 kilometers to the Spencer Loop, a loop that was built to overcome a slope, the ACR had to file for bankruptcy in 1909.

A company founded on October 28, 1909, the Alaska Northern Railway Company (ANR), bought the ACR in the same year and continued the line construction until 1910 by 34 kilometers to Kern Creek . She took over three of the four locomotives and the rest of the rolling stock from the Alaska Central Railway. Locomotive 3 was sold to the Copper River and Northwestern Railway in 1907 . In 1914 the ANR also had to go bankrupt. Passenger traffic was initially discontinued.

At that time, the US government was planning to build a continuous connection from the Pacific coast to Fairbanks inland. The government bought Alaska Northern in 1915, converted it into the Alaska Engineering Commission Railroad (AECRR) and quickly continued construction of the railway. Ship Creek, later Anchorage , was designated as the seat of the new railway administration . Since the line between Seward and Kern was revised again, passenger trains could soon run over this section again. In 1915 the line to Johnson was put back into operation. In 1916 a total of almost 100 kilometers were built, the tracks led to the Knik Arm north of Anchorage. In early 1917, the AECRR extended passenger traffic to Grandview and in June of that year again to Kern Creek. On October 24, 1917, Chickaloon and thus the coal fields near Matanuska were reached. The line to Chickaloon branches off from the main line in Matanuska and now only exists as far as Palmer .

On December 31, 1917, AECRR acquired the Tanana Valley Railroad (TVR), which operated a narrow-gauge railroad network around Fairbanks , and built a new narrow-gauge branch from Happy to Nenana . This was opened on November 7, 1919. At this time at the latest, but probably as early as 1918, traffic on the narrow-gauge branch line to Chena ended . On June 15, 1922, she switched the newly built line to Nenana to standard gauge. The section between Happy and Fairbanks was expanded to three rails.

On March 4, 1919, the main line from Matanuska to Talkeetna went into operation. At the end of 1920, the line to Nenana was largely complete. Only the Hurricane Gulch Bridge (opened on August 18, 1921), the bridge over Riley Creek (opened in February 1922) and the bridge over the Tanana River were missing. On February 27, 1923, the 397 meter long steel Mears Memorial Bridge was completed over the Tanana near Nenana. In addition, a branch line was built from Healy to Suntrana to serve a nearby coal mine. This route is closed today.

On July 15, 1923, the entire Seward – Fairbanks main line was officially opened in the presence of US President Warren G. Harding after the first trains rolled over the route in the first week of June. At the same time, the railway company was officially named Alaska Railroad . The remaining original route of the TVR to Chatanika was initially operated on narrow gauge, but closed on August 1, 1930 and dismantled in 1931.

Development from 1943

In June 1943, after two years of construction, another connection to the coast was opened with the 19 kilometer long tunnel-rich branch line from Portage to Whittier , which was needed if the port in Seward should be the target of air raids by the Japanese. The 4.3 km long Whittier Tunnel thus became the longest tunnel of the ARR. In Whittier, a large ferry port was built at the same time, from where ships depart for Seattle.

On June 15, 1944, the first two diesel locomotives ran on the ARR. Nevertheless, trains pulled by steam locomotives ran on the lines of the railway until 1966. In 1951 a route was relocated between the tunnel and Spencer stations south of Anchorage. The Spencer Loop was replaced by a straight route. Nevertheless, competition from the road in 1953 led to the suspension of passenger traffic to Seward, which was not resumed until 2000. In November 1956, the Alaska Railroad was completely converted to diesel locomotives.

The earthquake of 1964 hit the railway hard, some parts of the route south of Anchorage had broken away and had to be completely rebuilt. After a week, the first trains ran from Anchorage to Fairbanks again. After three weeks the first train reached Whittier and it took several months for trains to return to Seward. In May 1968, most of the branch line to the Matanuska coal fields was closed. In the spring of 1972, the railway company built a 16.4 kilometer extension line from Fairbanks to the city's international airport .

On January 5, 1985, the state of Alaska bought the railroad from the federal government. On September 28, 2011, the foundation stone for the bridge over the Tanana River was laid near Salcha in order to extend the railway line to Delta Junction . The bridge was completed in 2014. The government intends to stimulate the agriculture and construction industry in the region.

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  On the Tanana River before 1923

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  ARR passenger train in Denali, July 1998

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  Intersection with Highway 3, 2003

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  Passenger train

passenger traffic

The February 1913 timetable provided for a pair of trains between Seward and Kern Creek, which only ran on weekdays. The train left Seward at 8 a.m. At 12:30 pm he drove back to Seward. The journey time was three and a half hours.

According to the December 1933 timetable, there was a weekly train from Seward to Fairbanks and back. The train stayed overnight in Curry in both directions , the travelers could sleep there in a train-owned hotel. The train's weekly lap began at 8:30 a.m. in Fairbanks on Fridays. Curry was reached at 5:15 p.m. On Saturdays at 7:30 a.m., the train left Curry for Seward, where it arrived at 6:00 p.m. The return journey began on Sunday mornings at 7:30 a.m. with arrival in Curry at 6:00 p.m. On Mondays at 7:30 a.m., the train continued its journey to Fairbanks, which was finally reached at 4:15 p.m. The train stopped for an hour in either direction in Anchorage and half an hour in Healy. Both stays could be used for lunch. The branch line to Chickaloon was apparently already partially closed, the timetable only shows the line to Eska .

The September 1964 timetable provided for a day train that ran from Anchorage to Fairbanks on Saturdays and back on Sundays, and a night train that left Anchorage on Tuesday evenings and returned early on Thursdays. A mixed pair of trains from Anchorage to Whittier also ran Monday through Friday . The freight line branching off in Matanuska only led to Jonesville at this time , the Suntrana Branch was still in operation.

In 2017, a total of four trains will run in the summer:

• The Coastal Classic runs daily between Anchorage and Seward during the summer. The train stops in Seward for seven hours, so there are opportunities for day trips.
• The Denali Star runs daily as a daily express train between Anchorage and Fairbanks. The travel time for approx. 580 km is around 12 hours (almost 50 km / h).
• The Glacier Discovery operates daily between Anchorage and Grandview via Whittier.
• The Hurrican Turn only runs between Talkeetna and Hurrican from Thursdays to Sundays. It stops at all stations and is one of the last trains with on- demand stops in the USA. It mainly serves the residents along the route as a feeder to markets and as a delivery service for food and consumer goods.

The winter timetable only provides for two trains:

• The Hurricane Turn operates on the first Thursday of each month between Anchorage and Hurricane, stopping at all stations if necessary.
• The Aurora Winter runs Saturday from Anchorage to Fairbanks and Sundays from Fairbanks to Anchorage. Demand stops are possible at all stations.

In addition, additional excursion trains run on certain days in summer.

Ecological aspects

Moose like to move on the cleared tracks when snow depths are greater. A few dozen moose are killed every winter by collisions with trains, the number correlating with the amount of snowfall. In the winter of 2011/2012, 292 animals were killed, while in the comparatively low snow winters between 2005 and 2008 and 2012 to 2015, around 50 animals were killed.

The ARR in the media

The 1985 action thriller Runaway Train was largely filmed on the ARR routes. However, the logo of the railway company was not allowed to be shown. The film was nominated three times for an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award . Balto - A dog with a hero's heart (Original title: Balto) is an American cartoon from 1995 based on a true story. The diphtheria serum is transported by ARR to Anchorage , where the dog sleds take over afterwards.

The ARR is also the subject of a TV documentary series by Discovery Communications . To date (December 2016) the series Railroad Alaska has 3 seasons with a total of 26 episodes and has been broadcast in German-speaking countries since May 1, 2014 on DMAX . The series focuses on the life of the Alaskans on and with the railroad in the inhospitable and rough landscape. Was shown u. a. the "Tundra-Truck", a truck on rails that supplies the settlers with gas and diesel, the preventive blasting of an avalanche prone area with a howitzer or the getting in and out of the settlers on the open road to take the passenger train that only runs once a week to get to the next settlement - here Talkeetna .

literature

• Howard Clifford: Alaska / Yukon Railroads: An Illustrated History. Oso Publishing Company, Arlington, WA, 1999.
• Nicholas Deely: The Alaska Railroad, The Great Denali Trek. Sundance Publications Ltd., Denver, CO, 1988.
• Edwin M. Fitch: The Alaska Railroad . Frederick A. Praeger Publ., New York, NY, 1967.
• Bernardine Prince: The Alaska Railroad (2 volumes). Ken Wray Printing, Anchorage, AK, 1964.

This link provides a presumably complete bibliography on the ARR .

Web links

Commons : Alaska Railroad  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• Side of the Alaska Railroad. Retrieved September 1, 2018 . 
• Northern Rail Extension Project - New construction project after Delta Junction
• Unofficial page about the ARR
• Compilation of several articles from Trains magazine. Trains , November 1, 2007, archived from the original ; accessed on September 1, 2018 (PDF file; 8.95 MB). 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Business Facts - Passenger Services. (PDF; 144 kB) Alaska Railroad, February 18, 2015, accessed on January 20, 2016 . 
2. ^ Business Facts - Freight Services. (PDF; 144 kB) Alaska Railroad, February 18, 2015, accessed on January 20, 2016 . 
3. ^ Alaska Railroad Transfer Act of 1982, (45 USC 1201 et seq.).
4. ^ Federal Railroad Administration: transferred the Federal Government's interest in the Alaska Railroad to the Alaska Railroad Corporation (ARRC), a public corporation of the State of Alaska chartered to own and operate the Alaska Railroad. Federal Railroad Administration , accessed September 1, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issued November 1913. Alaska Northern Rwy. P. 998.
6. ↑ Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Porto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issued February 1934. Alaska Railroad. P. 1192.
7. ↑ Official Guide of the Railways and Steam Navigation Lines of the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and Cuba. Issued November 1964. Alaska Railroad. P. 871.
8. ↑ Route Map on the ARR website (English)
9. ↑ Alaska Railroad sees decrease in moose deaths caused by trains. Fairbanks Daily News miner , April 29, 2015, archived from the original ; Retrieved on September 1, 2018 (on the access date , the original URL with reference to the GDPR was not accessible to recognizable European Internet providers.). 
10. ↑ http://www.centralparknyc.org/things-to-see-and-do/attractions/balto.html
11. ↑ http://www.fernsehserien.de/railroad-alaska/episodenguide