Texas/Railroads

Kudos to the wikipedia.org page which does a much better job of text descriptions, yet doesn't link to relevant data relations in OSM (via BrowseRelation wiki entries), as many OSM wiki readers have become familiar with. You might choose the text-oriented wikipedia.org page now and that'd be good, however, if you need the OSM data we are building links into tables and that will take some time and effort into the future. An Overpass Turbo link might prove useful, try this for passenger train routes. So, see List of Texas railroads if text descriptions are "good enough for now." We could use something like that for OSM specific data, even if it is simply links in wikipedia.org pages like the one ref'd above.

Like highways, railroad tracks have been imported from TIGER data and they share the same problems like unconnected segments, wrong tagging, missing bridges and railroad crossings and positions that are frequently off quite a lot. So a review is necessary as it is for highways.

Introduction

This is a very early seed of Texas/Railroads currently under construction. Please bear with OSM as it completes. Passenger rail was given priority and seems now moderately well-documented at what needs doing to grow these relations to v2. Now the focus should be on mainline, branch and freight/industrial rail of the major (Class I) rail carriers in Texas: there is a significant amount of work required to improve these TIGER rail data already entered, and documenting in this wiki how we must and do improve them.

Editing Railroads starting from TIGER data

Please read WikiProject_United_States_railways#Editing_Railroads_starting_from_TIGER_data. The segments of a railway line with similar tagging (especially name=* and usage=*) should be collected into a route=railway relation. Overpass Turbo (OT) queries can be useful by limiting their bounds to easily-definable names (like "Texas") and are easy to modify (e.g. change the value "disused" to "abandoned" or "Union Pacific" to "BNSF"). A few OT examples are sprinkled into this wiki where sensible.

Active lines

Lines that see regular rail traffic whether freight, passenger, industrial, whatever. If they are active, they go here. If they are not, they are placed into the Disused or Abandoned sections below. Passenger rail has its own sections.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF)

Main

A Class I major railroad in the USA. An early table stub. Here is an OT query, but it will match only BNSF railway with the exact value for its operator key of "BNSF."

Subdivision	Operator	Relation	Route	TIGER Review	Notes
Fort Worth Subdivision	BNSF	1458513 1458513	Gainesville - Fort Worth - Cleburne - Temple	Fully TIGER Reviewed
Lampasas Subdivision	BNSF	7461205 7461205	Sweetwater - Coleman - Lampasas - Temple	Fully TIGER Reviewed
Red Rock Subdivision	BNSF	1451445 1451445	Gainesville - Oklahoma Line - Ardmore, Oklahoma - Norman, Oklahoma - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - Arkansas City, Oklahoma	Partially TIGER Reviewed	Seems to need more bridge=yes layer=1 tags on short (often two-node) rail segments of creek/river/water crossings

Branch

Here is an OT query to find usage=branch rail in Texas.

Union Pacific Railroad (UP)

Main

A Class I major railroad in the USA.

Subdivision	Operator	Relation	Route	TIGER Review	Notes
Mineola Subdivision	Union Pacific Railroad	1458438 1458438	Dallas - Mesquite - Forney - Terrell - Wills Point - Mineola - Gladewater - Longview	Partially TIGER Reviewed

Short Lines

Often Class III (minor) USA railroads.

Branch

Subdivision	Operator	Relation	Route	TIGER Review	Notes
South Orient Rail Line	Grupo México	8759379 8759379	San Angelo Jct. (SE of Coleman) at Lampasas Subdivision - Ballinger - San Angelo - Fort Stockton - Alpine (Sanderson and Valentine Subdivisions)	Fully TIGER Reviewed	Believed to haul copper ore to México; please correct if wrong

Passenger trains

Tracks and stations used for passenger train routes are correctly collected into route=train relations.

Amtrak passenger=national and passenger=regional trains serving Texas (AMTK)

Amtrak operates most passenger=regional (medium-distance: intrastate or interstate) trains and all passenger=national (long distance, interstate), overnight, highspeed=yes and passenger=international trains. All Amtrak trains in Texas are in this table. Please update and/or correct any errors.

Route	Trains	Service	Relation	Status
Heartland Flyer®	821, 822	regional	4743154 4743154 OKC-FTW 9161443 9161443 FTW-OKC 9161444 9161444	OKC-FTW FTW-OKC Complete; public_transport v2. 206 miles (332 km).
Sunset Limited®	1, 2	national	10322739 10322739 v1 LAX-SAS 10946017 10946017 v1 SAS-NOL 297142 297142	Complete; public_transport v1. 1995 miles (New Orleans - San Antonio - Los Angeles). At San Antonio, train 1 couples with train 421 westbound and train 2 decouples from train 422 eastbound.
Texas Eagle®	21, 22, 421, 422	national	10322739 10322739 v1 CHI-SAS 2795760 2795760	Complete; rough public_transport v1. 2728 miles (Chicago - San Antonio - Los Angeles). At San Antonio, train 421 couples with train 1 westbound and train 422 decouples from train 2 eastbound. Trains 21 and 22 cover the segment between Chicago and San Antonio on days without Sunset Limited service. Tracks around Saint Louis are estimated.

Regional (passenger=regional) trains (future Texas Central Railway?)

Presently, no "regional rail" exists in Texas (middle-distances of 150 km to 1000 km; shorter than passenger=national rail but longer than passenger=suburban "commuter" trains, passenger=urban light-rail and passenger=local trams). Sometimes called "intercity." There are plans for a highspeed=yes passenger=regional rail service between Dallas and Houston, known as w:Texas_Central_Railway. Little is known beyond broad generalizations from the Wikipedia entry.

Suburban commuter rail

Texas has numerous rail systems serving suburban, urban and local passengers via full-sized "heavy rail" (commuter) trains, light rail and trams.

DCTA (Denton County Transportation Authority, Texas) passenger=suburban trains (DCTA?)

Is DCTA a reporting mark, convenient local acronym or both?

A-Train

Denton to Trinity Mills, where it connects to DART (Dallas) Green Line light rail.

Service Line	Route	Trains	Relation	Status
A-Train	Train	Train #s	2716905 2716905	Needs a type=route_master relation and other improvements to become v2. Set to be green (yes) as it appears to be v1, but only "partial" (yellow) w.r.t. v2. Shouldn't be a huge effort to improve this to fully v2.

Capital Metro, Austin's passenger=suburban rail trains

CapMetro's commuter rail service between Downtown Austin and north to Leander via Howard Station / Wells Branch.

Service Line	Route	Trains	Relation	Status
Red Line	Train	550	90283 90283	A skeletal v1 now (and tracks need better/consistent naming), shouldn't be too difficult to improve to full v1, then v2 with route_master.

TEX Rail passenger=suburban trains

TEXRail is a new 27-mile commuter rail line that will extend from downtown Fort Worth, across northeast Tarrant County, through North Richland Hills and Grapevine, and into DFW International Airport’s Terminal B. Planned to begin revenue service at nine stations during the first week of 2019, projections are to serve more than 8,000 daily riders.

Service Line	Route	Trains	Relation	Status
TEX Rail	Train	Train #	6762508 6762508	Under construction in the real world. Add a route=train tag when this opens for revenue service. Claims to be v2, though there is no parent route_master relation, so needs work to be fully v2. May be a v1 now.

DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) Trinity Rail Express passenger=suburban trains (TRE)

Service Line	Route	Trains	Master Relation	Status
Union <-> T&P via Centreport	Train	Train #	2716975 2716975	v2, but could use better naming of stop_positions and platforms, together with train=yes tags.

Add DART Silver Line somewhere around here.

Urban and local trains

DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) passenger=urban light rail trains

Service Line	Route	Trains	Master Relation	Status
Red Line	Light Rail	Train #	6265610 6265610	Claims to be v2, is it? Stop_positions could use name and platforms need name and light_rail=yes tags. Then needs to be double-checked for full v2 compatibility/compliance.
Orange Line	Light Rail	Train #	6265702 6265702	Claims to be v2, is it? Stop_positions could use name and platforms need name and light_rail=yes tags. Then needs to be double-checked for full v2 compatibility/compliance.
Blue Line	Light Rail	Train #	6265609 6265609	Claims to be v2, is it? Stop_positions could use name and platforms need name and light_rail=yes tags. Then needs to be double-checked for full v2 compatibility/compliance.
Green Line	Light Rail	Train #	6264663 6264663	This is a v1 relation and has a correspondence with A-Train at Trinity Mills to continue north to Denton

DART (Dallas Area Rapid Transit) passenger=local trams

Two trams are known in the DART network, M-Line (also known as McKinney Avenue Trolley), from Cityplace/Uptown to Federal & Olive and Dallas Streetcar, from Union station to Bishop Arts Station.

Service Line	Route	Trains	Master Relation	Status
Dallas Streetcar	Tram	620	6265792 6265792	Claims to be v2, is it? Stop_positions could use name and platforms need name and tram=yes tags. Then needs to be double-checked for full v2 compatibility/compliance.
M-Line	Tram	M-Line	2788830 2788830	Claims to be v2, is it? Stop_positions could use name and platforms need name and tram=yes tags. Then needs to be double-checked for full v2 compatibility/compliance.

El Paso Streetcar passenger=local trams

Little is known about thise Sun Metro trams; this a placeholder in this wiki.

Galveston Island Trolley passenger=local trams

Galveston's tram service was suspended due to major damage by Hurricane Ike, though is expected to reopen in 2019 with 22 stations over 10.9 km (6.8 miles).

Service Line	Route	Trams	Relation	Status
Galveston Island Trolley	Tram		8760596 8760596	This "deep freeze" relation of disused tram railway will likely seed the future existence of this system. Three restored trolley cars are intended to provide service.

Las Colinas APT System (Irving's) passenger=local People Mover

Little is known; placeholder.

METRO (Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County), Houston's passenger=urban trains

Houston has three light_rail lines, Red, Green and Purple. Even though these are largely street-running, especially in dense, Downtown areas which might prompt them to be tagged railway=tram, they are tagged railway=light_rail throughout.

Service Line	Route	Trains	Relation	Status
Red Line	Light Rail	700	1741729 1741729	A skeletal v1 now (and tracks need better/consistent naming), shouldn't be too difficult to improve to full v1, then v2 with route_master.
Green Line	Light Rail	800	2728566 2728566	A skeletal v1 now (and tracks need better/consistent naming), shouldn't be too difficult to improve to full v1, then v2 with route_master.
Purple Line	Light Rail	900	2728567 2728567	A skeletal v1 now (and tracks need better/consistent naming), shouldn't be too difficult to improve to full v1, then v2 with route_master.

Skylink, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport passenger=local (People Mover) trains

Little is known / placeholder.

Disused lines

Lines that don't have regular traffic but with all infrastructure in place. Tracks are tagged railway=disused.

This is an early, stubby table only just getting started. It needs much more population as there is a vast rail history in Texas. Very much under construction and only in its infancy here.

Here is an Overpass Turbo (OT) query which can be helpful.

Name	old_railway_operator=*	Relation	Route	TIGER Review	Notes
Unnamed	MKT	The single way is entered	Gorman	TIGER Review required	An initial stub entry into the Disused table

Abandoned lines

Former railroad lines, whether still visible on the ground or not. A formal abandonment process with FRA has completed. Ways are tagged railway=abandoned or sometimes railway=razed if they have become completely built over in urban areas or are now, for example, farmland which has reverted to a more natural state with no evidence of tracks having been there. These should be historically determined or able to be so, but sometimes this is difficult because of lost history.

This is an early, stubby table only just getting started. It needs much more population as there is a vast rail history in Texas. Very much under construction and only in its infancy here.

Here is an Overpass Turbo (OT) query which can be helpful.

Name of Subdivision/Line and/or Operator (at abandonment)	old_railway_operator=*	Relation	Route	TIGER Review	Notes
San Antonio, Uvalde & Gulf	MP	The single way is entered	Gardendale across I-35	Done	An initial stub entry into the Abandoned table

Railtrails

A railtrail uses a former railroad right-of-way for e.g. bike or hiking paths, preserving the ROW for possible future re-use as a railway while providing a useful service in the meantime.

Relation	Route	TIGER Review	Notes
	Empty	Placeholder	Unknown