Gulf Region Rail Operations Update

Announcement Number: CN2017-63
Categories: General Announcements
Posted Date: August 29, 2017

To Our Customers,

Tropical Storm Harvey continues to cause widespread flooding in the Houston area. Rail operations along the Gulf Coast from Brownsville, Texas to Lake Charles, Louisiana are currently suspended due to high water and storm damage. 

As weather and access to storm damaged areas allows, we are inspecting and repairing track, bridges and signals to return to service as quickly and safely as possible. Until the storms move out and the flooding recedes, we are not able to access or inspect our tracks and facilities in the greater Houston area. Rain and flooding continues in Houston and east of Houston into Louisiana.

Routes through San Antonio are opening up which will allow us to run trains both north and south between San Antonio and Hearne, Texas. The Laredo gateway remains open to interchange traffic with the Mexican railroads. 

Livonia and Avondale shipments destined to points west of Tucson into California normally traveling through Houston will be re-routed through Longview and Ft. Worth, Texas around the flooded areas.

If you have questions regarding the movement of specific rail equipment, please continue to input Service Issues via our secure customer website MyUPRR.com (User ID and password required). Our Hurricane Hotline is 800-365-6963 and should be used by our customers to report any damage to facilities that would impact our ability to provide service once operations resume. This information should include damage or tracks out of service and estimated facility repair time. 

We have issued embargoes on all rail traffic destined to stations on the Gulf Coast and inland that comprise our Houston Service Unit. Active Union Pacific embargoes can be viewed on our embargo page. The embargo is for all rail traffic, including intermodal equipment and automotive shipments. Customers should consider diverting cars away from the impacted area. 

Please contact the National Customer Service Center or your Union Pacific representative with any questions.