The triple crossing in Richmond, VA, is generally considered the only triple crossing of Class I railroads in America. As of about 2004, Kansas City also has a triple crossing. But the Kansas City Terminal Railway owns most, if not all, of these layers. The ground and middle layers connect to the two decks of the Highline Bridge.
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| BNSF Kansas City is a busy rail hub, second only to Chicago, and also part of our Southern Transcon. Given the number of railroads and trains that operate here, the KC Terminal Railway was formed as part of a public-private partnership by railroads operating in the area to coordinate the use of tracks and to finance the Argentine Connection Flyover – essentially an overpass. The Sheffield Junction, another flyover just a few miles east, was similarly built in 2000. Work on the two-mile Argentine Flyover began in 2002, running east-west and connecting the Kansas City, Mo., Union Station with BNSF’s Argentine Yard in Kansas City, Kan. The $60 million Argentine Flyover opened in September 2004, creating three levels of track that enabled increased train speeds and reduced congestion. [I count nine locomotives on the top train. The train must include a power move because at some point you have enough horsepower to pull the couplers out of the cars. I believe "public-private partnership" is a euphemism for taxpayers paying part of the cost.] |
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| BNSF |
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| Jim Pearson Photography posted The DPU end of a Union Pacific grain train heads across Santa Fe Junction on the Kansas City Terminal Railroad (KCT) High Line as a BNSF train below pulls through the diamonds at Tower 3, at Kansas City, MO, on June 30th, 2022. Santa Fe Junction sees on average over 100 trains a day and it hosts the double decked railroad bridge that crosses the Kansas River into Missouri, a triple crossing in addition to Tower 3, which is used by maintenance of way these days. The junction is partly in Missouri and Kansas and sees BNSF, UP, KCT, Amtrak, KCS, NS and CP traffic. Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 100. Jim Pearson Photography: https://fineartamerica.com/.../up-and-bnsf-action-at... Mel Wilson: The double deck bridge wasn’t with ATSF. UP and Rock Island passenger trains used the top deck, while MoPac passengers could use the top but taking a turnout crossing over the UP yard and could get to their Omaha line. Rock freights also used the top and bottom, along with the Kansas City Terminal using the bridge. ATSF “took a left” at Tower 3 (Santa Fe Junction, also known as AT Junction). And of course, now, the BNSF uses the newer flyover 73 feet above the ground. |
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Jeff Wojciechowski posted
Stacks meet windmills on the Hi-Line in Kansas City. This is one of only two places in the United States that has three levels of train tracks.
4/17/2019
[Richmond, VA, is the other.]Sam Bailey Center of Photo is the former Frisco/BN Interlocking. Santa Fe Jct Tower is around the corner on left side of photo. J.d. Black Wind turbine blades. Michael Gallagher That's a BNSF Logistics train... Jeff Wojciechowski Michael Gallagher which one? Michael Gallagher Jeff Wojciechowski the wind train...we are the only company that does blades by rail |
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| Jeff commented on his post The wind train was a UP train heading east out of UP 18th street yard via KC Terminal Railway.I I just didn't show the UP unit because this is a BNSF affiliated group. Also I've personally seen CP and UP wind trains and google suggest also NS and CSX have had wind trains as well. Michael Gallagher Jeff Wojciechowski BNSG Logistics is a sister company to Railway....but we are railroad neutral |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Jeff's post Given the Amtrak train on the ground level in this 3D Satellite view, that would have been Santa Fe. https://www.google.com/.../@39.0796587,-94.../data=!3m1!1e3 What was the 1960's names of the railroads on the other two levels? A railroad map shows, like Chicago, a lot of railroads terminated in Kansas City. Santa Fe goes through. Maybe MoPac and/or Rock Island. Dennis DeBruler I was wrong about the Amtrak train being on a former Santa Fe route. Most, if not all, of this track is owned by the Kansas City Terminal Railway. The ground and middle layers connect to their double-deck Highline Bridge. https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/.../two-level... Martin Mazur Dennis DeBruler I think the Wabash did in pre Norfolk and Western days. |
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| Jef commented on Dennis' comment on Jeff's post Santa Fe Jct is really close just to the west. Arrow indicates direction of photo. I might be wrong but I think this is called BN junction. Picture below source: Openrailwaymap.org |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Jeff's post Which railroad's roundhouse has been preserved? https://www.google.com/.../@39.077968,-94.../data=!3m1!1e3 Jeff Wojciechowski Not really sure. |
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| Jim Pearson Photography posted Union Pacific 8897 brings up rear as DPU on a grain train as it heads across Santa Fe Junction on the Kansas City Terminal Railroad (KCT) High Line, while BNSF 7767 and 3947 lead a westbound train past Tower #3 on June 30th, 2022. Santa Fe Junction sees on average over 100 trains a day and it hosts the double decked railroad (ATSF Double Deck Railroad) bridge that crosses the Kansas River into Missouri, a triple crossing in addition to Tower 3, which is used by maintenance of way these days. The junction is partly in Missouri and Kansas and sees BNSF, UP, KCT, Amtrak, KCS, NS and CP traffic, from what I saw during my visit. The Kansas City Terminal Railway Company (KCT) is a Class III railroad located in Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas City, Kansas. KCT serves as a terminal railroad for its five Class I railroad owners (Union Pacific, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific). Amtrak also operates over the KCT providing passenger service to and from Union Station. Currently the second largest rail hub in the United States, KCT owns and dispatches 95 miles of track spanning Missouri and Kansas. According to the website railfanguides.us Santa Fe Junction Interlocking is easily the busiest location for trains in Kansas City and trains from any of the five railroads which jointly own KCT can be seen here. Tower #3 was closed in 1969 when a central dispatching center replaced it and all the other towers KCT had at the time. The black bridge is KCT’s double deck, double track crossing of the Kansas River. The odd-looking silver towers on the bridge are lift mechanisms to raise the bridge in the event of flooding and are not connected most of the time. The upper deck line was primarily used by passenger trains from UP and Rock Island, moving to and from Kansas through the KC Union Station. Today primarily freight trains use this bridge. The tracks through the junction have been reduced or changed around over the years, but the area remains one of KC’s Busiest locations. Tech Info: DJI Mavic Air 2S Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/2000, ISO 100. |
Bill Barnes: During the flood of 1993, the lifting mechanism on the river bridge had not been tested for years, probably since installation in the very early 60s. After days of repairs, one span failed to lift out of the floodway, and large trees were dangling from the bottom for years. Currently, the river levees are being raised again and the Corps plan is now based on the hydraulic jacking system being non-functional. If it works, it's a bonus.
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| 3D Satellite |
Dennis DeBruler What is the name of the tower? It is still standing in satellite images: https://www.google.com/.../@39.082469,-94.../data=!3m1!1e3
Glenn Anderson Dennis DeBruler, I think that is State Line Tower. The state line runs literally a few feet east of the tower. Here's the https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0825096,-94.6075911,134m/data=!3m1!1e3
This interlocking is so complicated that different parts of it have their own junction name. Jeff shows above the Openrailwaymap names. Both the 2005 SPV Map and Google label this tower the Santa Fe Junction. the SPV map shows State Line is a little further east.
I was going to annotate a satellite image with the names the SPV Map uses. But the track layout seems to have changed enough since then that some of the junctions have been removed.
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| Satellite [But the Santa Fe Tower is just a couple hundred feet from the state line border.] |
Jordan Lebahn posted three photos with the comment:
02/22/2020 A friend and I spent a few hours at Santa Fe Junction on the first decent weather of the week. Saturdays are almost always busy in the KC area. Our time saw several occasions of trains on all three levels. My favorite shot is the Chiefs Kingdom flag flying high over the Argentine flyover.Randy Bayne I think it was a recent issue of Trains had a nice article on Santa Fe Junction!!!
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| 3 Dan Hildebrand 3 at once. Wow what a video that would be. |
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| Dave Blaze Rail Photography posted BN Junction Broadside Here is another frame from the first hour of our trip spent at BN Jct. This shows the DP power on the rear end of our third train on the middle level while the NS train headed to Argentine is seen still sailing above at top. This shot follows right after this image: https://flic.kr/p/2mjSSsj The top level of track here is the Argentine Flyover leading from the KCT east west corridor to BNSF's massive ex Santa Fe hump yard of the same name. The middle level is the KCT Kansas high line heading toward the UP's Armourdale (now closed) and 18th Street yards across the river. And the tracks in the foreground the train is on are KCT Line Segment 5001 and become BNSF's Fort Scott Sub just to the south behind me. If you're interested in some technical details and maps the KCT surprisingly has some great documents publicly available here: http://kctrailway.com/tools/ Kansas City, Missouri Friday August 27, 2021 |
A 17:43 video of a Feb 3, 2022, derailment and cleanup
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| Screenshot @ 2:11 at the end of the wreck (source) Derailment starts at 1:37. Some Cranemaster action starts at 7:13. At 7:25, the rearend of the tracks leave the ground! At 7:56 watch the guys start backing away from the suspended load except one. And then at 8:11 he turns, ducks and runs. At 14:03, is that tank car loaded? Coming to think about it, even if it had a load, they probably drained it before they moved it. |
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