Pasco to Spokane

The route is divided into the following subdivisions:

At Pasco (MP 145.6/231.4), where the depot is on the west side of the line north of the wye, as the ex-NP line it is on turns north-northwest, and the major yard at Pasco is on the east side of that line extending north from the area of the depot. The former SP&S line onward from Pasco to Spokane has been abandoned in favor of the former Northern Pacific line, so all of today’s trains take that line past Pasco Yard then north. The speed limit is 25 mph at the depot, and 65 mph for passenger trains, 60 mph for freights, north of the depot. Alongside the yard, the line is Two Main Tracks (2MT), Automatic Block Signals (ABS). There are crossovers at Grapevine (MP145.3), CP 1427 (MP 142.7), CP 1421 (MP 142.1) and the north end of the yard area at Pasco East (MP 140.2, where the speed limit rises to 79-60, and the line becomes 2MT, Centralized Traffic Control (CTC).

The line turns north-northeast and passes detectors at MP 138.7, Glade (MP 137.0), where the 2MT reduce to single track, CTC, a detector at MP 134.6, Sagemoor (MP 133.1), a detector at MP 130.5, the 8,100 ft. siding at Eltopia (MP 126.3), as the track curves north, , a detector at MP 122.3, Edwards (MP 120.6), where the speed limit falls to 75-60, a detector at MP 118.8, and the 6,784 ft. siding at Mesa, where a branch from Basin City once trailed in from the west and the line turns east-northeast. There is an 8,100 ft. siding at Cactus, where the speed limit falls to 55 mph, where the now curvy line turns northeast, a detector at MP 112.4, an 8,110 ft. siding at Connell, where the speed limit drops to 45 mph, the line turns north, a UP line to Hooper once headed east, and the Columbia Basin Railway line to Warden departs to the north on the west side of the line.

The speed limit rises to 60 mph, there is a detector at MP 198.1, the line turns east-northeast to Emery, then north, and then northeast, past a detector at MP 104.6, curving back to the north past Hatton (MP 100.6),, a detector at MP 99.5), and Cunningham (MP 97.7. The line expands to 2MT for the climb up Providence Hill, and turns north-northeast past detectors at MP 94.2, where the speed limit is 60-55 a curve to the east-northeast, crossovers at Beatrice (MP 90.8), where the speed limit is 50-45, a turn to the north, detectors at MP 88.8, Providence (MP 88.6), where the speed limit is 35 mph and the line turns northeast, then north, and then east, Sand (MP 84.9), where the speed limit rises to 45-40 and the line becomes single track again and turns northeast, a detector at MP 82.3, where the line turns east again, the Milwaukee Road main line once passes overhead on a bridge from running alongside on the north side of the line to running alongside on the south side, and a 6,441 ft. siding at Lind (MP 80.5).

There is a detector at MP 78.4, the line turns north-northeast, and the speed limit rises to 75-55. The line turns northeast, past the 8,100 ft. siding at Paha (MP 72.5), where there is also a detector, and turns north past the 8,800 ft. siding at Essig (MP 69.3), where the speed limit is 55 mph, a detector at MP 66.9, where the speed limit is 75-60, the line turns northeast past  shuttle-enabled grain elevators at Ritzville (MP 64.9), where the speed limit is 50-40, Coker, where the line turns north-northeast, the 8,100 ft. siding at Tokio (MP 57.8), where the line turns east-northeast and the speed limit is 79-60, a detector at MP 57.4 and another at MP 52.8, the 8,800 ft. siding at Keystone (MP 51.1), and a detector at MP 47.8, where the speed limit falls to 50-45 and the line turns northeast alongside Sprague Lake to its east. This is mostly flat grain (wheat) country, with many grain elevators, some of them shuttle-enabled, at communities along the line.

The line continues through Pifer (MP 47.7), and turns east past the end of the lake to the 8,100 ft. siding at Sprague (MP 42.4), where the speed limit is 60-45, and past a detector at MP 41.5, turns northeast past detectors at MP 36.5, where the speed limit is again 79-60, and MP 31.4, an 8,100 ft. siding at Fishtrap (MP 29.7), the line turns east-northeast at Tyler, past a detector at MP 25.7, and the 8,100 ft. siding at Babb (MP 19.8) and a detector at MP 19.2, to Cheney (MP 16.6), where the speed limit falls to 35 mph, the Palouse River & Coulee City (ex-NP) line departs to the north and the main line turns  northeast. North of Cheney, there is a detector at MP 14.3, the line turns east northeast and crosses the UP line north from Hinkle and the trackbed of the former SP&S line northeast from Pasco, on a high bridge, and then turns north and passes the connector to the former SP&S line now used by the UP at Lakeside Junction (MP 11.8); this line is used by southbound trains from Latah Creek Junction in Spokane.

The northbound line runs along the east side of the valley, turning northeast to Marshall (MP 9.3), where the speed limit is 40-35 and a Palouse River & Coulee City (ex-NP) line from Palouse trails in from the south, a detector at MP 6.1, as the line turns north and the speed limit is 55 mph, and a 12,641 ft, siding at Empire (MP 2.6).

The southbound line runs along the west side of the valley, on the single-track CTC BNSF Spokane Subdivision (north end of the former SP&S line), past UP Junction (MP 11.3/365.8), where the speed limit is 79-60, turns northeast through crossovers and 4,027 ft. siding at Scribner (MP 367.1), where the speed limit is 55 mph, and the 11,537 ft. siding at Overlook (MP 370.3), where the speed limits is 60 mph and the line turns north, past a detector at MP 371.5, Outfit Spur and Backyard Gulch Outfit to Latah Junction (MP 374.8/1481.6), speed limit 30 mph, where it joins the ex-GN line coming in from Wenatchee to the west, and turns northeast across the magnificent concrete Latah Creek Bridge, with speed limit 25 mph, to Sunset Junction (MP 1480.8/1.1), where there are crossovers, the northbound line trails in from the south,  and the line becomes  Double Track (DT), ABS, Occupancy Control System (OCS), and turns east on the elevated line into Spokane. (MP 0.0), where there are crossovers and the passenger station is on the north side of the track with the depot at street level below the elevated platforms.

The major BNSF yard in the Spokane area is at Yardley,  3.4 miles east of Spokane.