The Spokane Subdivision or Spokane Sub is a railway line running between

Sandpoint, Idaho Sandpoint (Kutenai language: kamanqukuⱡ) is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Bonner County, Idaho. Its population was 8,639 at the 2020 census. Sandpoint's major economic contributors include forest products, light manufacturing, ...

and

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the ...

. It forms a part of the Northern Transcon. The line has shared track rights with

Union Pacific Railway The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

. The

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

Empire Builder The ''Empire Builder'' is an Amtrak long-distance passenger train that operates daily between Chicago and either Seattle or Portland via two sections west of Spokane. Introduced in 1929, it was the flagship passenger train of the Great Norther ...

'' uses the line and stops in Sandpoint and Spokane. The length of the subdivision has fluctuated throughout its service history, with a majority of the east end of the line operating under the

Kootenai River Subdivision The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...

in the 2010s.

Union Pacific

The Union Pacific Railway uses the Spokane Subdivision between UP Junction to the south and Napa Street Junction to the north under

trackage rights Railway companies can interact with and control others in many ways. These relationships can be complicated by bankruptcies. Operating Often, when a railroad first opens, it is only a short spur of a main line. The owner of the spur line may c ...

in place since 1973. At Napa Street, the mainline continues north to

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

on the former

Spokane International Railroad The Spokane International Railroad was a short line railroad between Spokane, Washington, and the Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) at Kingsgate, British Columbia. The line became an important one for the CP with its connections to the Union Paci ...

. At UP Junction, the mainline continues south to Hinkle over the

Ayer Subdivision Ayer may refer to: Places * Ayer, Massachusetts, United States ** Ayer (CDP), Massachusetts, the central village in the town of Ayer ** Ayer (MBTA station), commuter rail station * Aller, Asturias, a municipality in Spain known in Asturian as Aye ...

Amtrak

Spokane plays an important role in the routes associated with the ''Empire Builder''. The train splits or joins together at the Spokane Amtrak Depot. The route going east to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

starts in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

and operates under route No. 8. The route No. 28, starts in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

and also goes east. In Spokane, the two routes converge and the two separate trains are linked together. They proceed eastward as one train under the unified route No. 8. The route heading westward from Chicago, No. 7, is split into two trains Spokane. The No. 7 continues to Seattle, while the other half continues to Portland under the route No. 27.

References

{{reflist BNSF Railway lines Rail infrastructure in Washington (state) Rail infrastructure in Idaho