Flooding Issues in Texas Continue to Impact Rail Operations
Announcement Number: CN2015-70
Categories: General Announcements
Posted Date: October 26, 2015
To Our Customers,
Heavy weekend rains inundated parts of Texas causing floods. Impacted areas included the cities of Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston and San Antonio. About 20 inches of rain fell over 30 hours in hard-hit Navarro County, which caused Chambers Creek to overflow near Corsicana, which is located south of Dallas. The flooded creek washed out tracks on the Ennis Subdivision and derailed a Union Pacific cement train en route to Houston. Thankfully, the Union Pacific employees on the derailed train are safe and uninjured.
The Ennis and Corsicana Subdivisions are major corridors for trains to Eagle Pass, Laredo and San Antonio. The Ennis Sub had 11 washouts and two remain. Engineering forces are currently working to restore track. A reopening time has not yet been established. Thirteen washout locations were repaired on the Corsicana Subdivision which returned to service late Sunday evening.
The Northern Region is currently holding back select trains at origin and on line as part of an overall train slotting plan for the Southern Region. The slot plan is being used to reroute trains into the Houston and San Antonio areas through Shreveport and Fort Worth.
Prior to the storm, supplies and resources were staged throughout the region to allow for quick response to service interruptions. Operations are expected to return to normal status across the Southern Region within 24 hours. Working through the backlog of traffic could take several days, so customers with traffic in the area should expect delays.
If you have any questions, please contact the National Customer Service Center or your Union Pacific representative.
