And yet another route suggestion, this time I wanted to suggest a shorter than average freight route in TSW, something DTG is (very) capable of doing. This would see two different railroads operating on the same line, both freight. The very interesting part of this route is the fact that it’s all underground! But don’t worry, there is an opening at street level for diesel locomotive exhaust to escape. That iconic, Californian freight route is none other than the Alameda Corridor. Part 1: The Route The Alameda corridor is a 20 mile under street level route running from the Port of Long Beach to the Port of Los Angeles. It is owned by the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority (ATAX for short), and constructed due to an increase in rail traffic and the potential impact that would have on road traffic. Since there were many railroad crossings on the line, and many trains operated in each direction ran frequently up and down the line, automobile traffic as well as other road vehicle traffic would’ve been delayed. The project began in 1994 when the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach purchased rights to the line from SP. The project itself began operations in 2004, and it saw up to 60 trains per day at its peak in 2006. The Corridor itself contains 20 miles of track, which seems very little to me, but if you add other sidings, rail bridges, and the yards at both ports, you get a grand total of 65 miles of track. Fun fact: up to 15% of the entire country’s container traffic moves through this route, being carried by both the BNSF and UP railroads. Currently, the line is triple tracked, being 33 feet deep and 50 feet wide. The line allows trains to bypass 90 miles of track east and west of the line. The Alameda Corridor has a max speed of 40 mph. Future developments include the Alameda Corridor-East project, which is currently under construction, which completely grade separates the UP Alhambra and Los Angeles Subdivisions, and brings down the track at Ramona Street and San Gabriel BLVD in San Gabriel, currently known as the San Gabriel Trench. The route would include the BNSF and UP yards at both Long Beach and LA, as well as the container ports at both locations. BNSF Railway intermodal train at the Alameda Corridor. Part 2: Rolling Stock Alright, enough small talk, let’s get to the fun part: what trains would be included. Of course, since this is a heavy haul freight route, we need potent, heavy haul freight locomotives. Such locos would include GE ES44AC/DC/C4 locos, GE C44-9W, GE ET44AC, EMD SD70ACE, SD70M, and maybe an SD40-2 for a local freight, as well as a genset or GP38-2 for yard switching. Since DTG limits themselves to 3 trains max per route, the most iconic locos would be a GE ET44AC, EMD SD70ACE, and finally a genset for yard switching, but I doubt DTG would go this far so maybe they’ll just repaint the GP38 into one of the local port railroad schemes, reuse the UP scheme, or make a BNSF unbranded version. For freight cars, the intermodal cars from HH could be reused, as well as OSD rolling stock since the line does see grain and manifest traffic too. But most trains will be hauling intermodal, so DTG might wanna recreate the container paint schemes in TS20. Part 3: DLC Now let’s get to the future add ons part. In case DTG does include the locos mentioned above (in either both rr schemes or just one), then I say dlc could include a genset (if DTG includes a GP38) or a GP40 (if DTG does include the genset, I definitely do NOT want to see the GP38 again). Other dlc (maybe a loco pack) could include EMD SD70M, GE C44-9W, and an SD70ACE-T4 in UP livery. Since this is a freight only route passenger trains won’t be included. Final Thoughts I think this is a great route to be included in TSW because it’ll be the first underground route in TSW, not to mention the first heavy haul freight trains and locos in TSW for console players, and overall the route is very interesting due to all the freight traffic and train variety. Feel free to give your opinion in the comments!
This would a nice add to TSW but DTG will not do it due to the license issues, it would have to be made by a third party developer so that thre would be a branded and unbranded version.
Yea I know, if it only included UP then it wouldn’t be as fun having only 1 of the 2 railroads, and yes, a third party would have to step in and make the route if we want it complete
A GP15-1, GP50, or GP60 could be good DLC too for switching. I really want the Genset and ET44AC (or BNSF ET44C4). A UP SD70AH-T4 would be amazing too. I would totally buy this if we get BNSF.
It's an unique and iconic route and it has the impressive northamerican heavy freight trains. Result: I think that is a very nice proposal. And I also think that we get an northamerican heavy diesel for consoles in the not so far future. Because DTG listen to the TSW community. They and Rivet Games brought out the german diesel what we asked for so long. The same will be with the arrival of the M3.
