The _Daily Oklahoman_, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, reports in
   today's paper (Wednesday, April 20) that the state is negotiating
   with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway to buy the railroad's
   lines between Sapulpa and Oklahoma City, and between Pawnee and
   Stillwater.
   
          State Transportation Secretary Neal McCaleb said the
   railway company is writing a sales contract.  He would not
   disclose the price the state is willing to pay.  He said if the
   sales contract is unacceptable, "we could jump the track."
   
          State Senator Dave Herbert of Midwest City said if the
   state acquires the lines, "it puts us in the driver's seat to
   negotiate with a commuter rail service."
   
          Jim Wolfe, an Amtrak official from Chicago, said buying the
   Sapulpa-Oklahoma City line would be a positive for Oklahoma, and
   the state could consider starting a passenger line, possibly from
   Oklahoma City to the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
   
          [There was no explanation about how buying the line from
   Sapulpa to Oklahoma City would affect starting a passenger line
   from Oklahoma City to Dallas-Fort Worth.]
   
          Amtrak was reported to have said the Sapulpa-Oklahoma City
   line is old, with lots of curves.  "If we fixed it up, the report
   Amtrak people did shows that we could only run trains at 40 miles
   per hour," McCaleb said.  "That is not exactly a bullet train."
   
          But getting that rail corridor would be a plus, McCaleb
   said, for passenger or short-line freight service.
   
          [There have been many rumors that the BNSF would like to
   get rid of both these line segments.  The Sapulpa-Oklahoma City
   line was once the Frisco's main route to the West Coast, via
   Quanah, Texas, then Quanah, Acme and Pacific (controlled by the
   Frisco) from Quanah to Floydada, Texas, connecting there with the
   Santa Fe to the West Coast.  A number of years ago they agreed to
   shift the traffic to an interchange with the Santa Fe at Avard,
   Oklahoma, using the line from Tulsa through Pawnee, Perry and Enid
   to Avard.  Floydada was an out-of-the way place for the Santa Fe,
   while Avard is on the Santa Fe's Chicago-West Coast main line.]
   
          [The Pawnee-Stillwater segment is the only remnant of the
   Santa Fe branch that once diverged from the alternate main line
   from Newkirk to Pauls Valley, Oklahoma,.  The Pawnee-Stillwater
   segment's only connection now is with the former Frisco line at
   Pawnee; that line is now the BNSF main line from St. Louis and the
   Southeastern United States to the West Coast.]
   
   
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR]
--- WILDMAIL!/WC v4.12 
---------------