| Sunset Route | |
|---|---|
 Union Pacific GE AC4400CW No. 7277 leads between a wind farm and desert land outside the town of Cabazon in Riverside County, California | |
| Overview | |
| Status | operational |
| Owner | Union Pacific Railroad |
| Locale | southwestern United States |
| Termini | |
| Service | |
| Operator(s) | Union Pacific, Amtrak, BNSF (partial) |
| Technical | |
| Number of tracks | 1–2 |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
The Sunset Route is a main line of the Union Pacific Railroad running between Southern California and New Orleans, Louisiana.[1] It is the southernmost railway that connects the central United States to the U.S. Pacific Coast.
The name traces its origins to the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway, a Southern Pacific Railroad subsidiary which was known as the Sunset Route as early as 1874.[citation needed] The line was built by several different companies and largely consolidated under Southern Pacific, with completion at the Colorado River in 1883.[2] Its construction prompted a frog war at the Colton Crossing, where it intersects the Southern Transcon, then owned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, and now by BNSF Railway.
The first trains departed for through service between Los Angeles, California and New Orleans on February 5, 1883.[3]
- ^ UPRR Common Line Names (PDF) (Map). Union Pacific Railroad. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
- ^ Tenth Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners of the State of California for the Year Ending December 31, 1889 (Report). California Board of Railroad Commissioners. 1889. p. 11.
- ^ Hofsommer 1986, p. 5.