(The following story by John D. Boyd appeared at TrafficWorld.com on September 12.)
Texas-based BNSF Railway, along with Union Pacific Railroad and Kansas City Southern shut down freight operations in the path of Hurricane Ike, the second time this month that a major storm threat has halted rail service in the Gulf Coast area.
Ike was expected to strike at Galveston, Texas, and then move inland toward Houston, but it brings a wide wind path that could cause damage and flooding across a much broader region.
UP told customers, “All rail operations have now been suspended into and out of the Houston area.”
It also said authorities in New Orleans had closed a bridge into that city used by both rail and highway traffic, so the storm was interrupting connections there with other rail lines. Already, UP was having to reroute some traffic away from that city as it continued repairing damage left earlier Sept. 1 by Hurricane Gustav.
BNSF also closed facilities at Galveston, Houston and New Orleans as Ike approached, and KCS embargoed traffic bound for Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas, where it interchanges with the two larger rail lines.
All the carriers move equipment out of the projected storm’s path when they activate their hurricane plans, and station repair materials and crews to come in quickly afterward to get service restored.