(The following story by Jeff Abell appeared on the Hawk Eye website on June 26.)
BURLINGTON, Iowa — As heavy vehicles roared in the background Wednesday, workers from R.J. Corman Railroad Group unloaded tons of rock and large sections of railroad wood ties and readied equipment at a staging area at the BNSF Railway railyard in Burlington.
Since last week, about 50 employees from Corman have camped out in Burlington as they worked to repair railroad tracks damaged by flooding from a Mississippi River that reached record high levels.
The Kentucky-based company, which provides disaster recovery services for railroads, was hired by BNSF to stabilize, and in some cases rebuild, track beds in Burlington and nearby Gulfport, Ill.
“There are numerous washouts for Burlington Northern Santa Fe that we are assisting with. We have also been working for other railroads, including the Union Pacific in Cedar Rapids,” said Noel Rush, vice president of strategic planning and development for Corman. “We have worked a dozen situations like this in the past 12 years.”
According to Rush, repair work on tracks in Burlington has been progressing rapidly due to receding floodwaters. The river in Burlington reached a record crest of 25.73.
It has been a different story in Gulfport.
Rush said it could take up to two weeks before floodwaters recede to the point workers can begin assessing the damage to tracks.
The village of about 200 across the Mississippi from Burlington remains submerged under about 8 feet of water due to a levee breach.
Steve Forsberg, a spokesman for BNSF, said it has been a joint effort between the railroad and Corman to restore the tracks at Gulfport.
“Until the water recedes to the point that you can see the right-of-way, all you can do is get material and equipment ready,” Forsberg said. “You can’t always assume every section of track that has been under water is damaged.”
“We do have some sections of track, including at the Ottumwa sub, where we found some of our relatively new ties floating in the water. We have had people retrieving wood ties in boats as they wait for the water to recede,” he added.
In Fort Madison, Forsberg said 250 BNSF workers, along with the same number of contractors, raised a 17-mile section of track up to 24 inches to avoiding flooding.
“They sandbagged to keep that line going. We were getting crews to trains stopped on the raised track by boat,” Forsberg said.
Due to flooding last week, portions of rail service between Ottumwa and Burlington; Quincy, Ill., to East St. Louis, Ill.; and between St. Louis and Memphis, Tenn., were shut down.
As floodwaters retreated this week, routes began to return to normal.
“Due to flooding, we have had to reroute trains much longer distances. It has added 24 or 48 hours to schedule time,” Forsberg said. “It’s looking a lot better this week.”