(The following story by Anna Fry appeared on the Parsons Sun website on July 6.)
PARSONS, Kan. — The Union Pacific Railroad has 400 rock cars and 60 dump trucks running day and night to repair tracks damaged by flooding and restore rail service.
Most of the damage is confined to a 2 1/2 to 3-mile area south of Erie, according to Tom Cooper, U.P.’s manager of track maintenance in Parsons.
Cooper estimated the repairs will take two or three more days. It is still too early to accurately determine the cost of the damage, but it is sure to be expensive, he said.
The Union Pacific track remained intact but the roadbed washed out from 3 to 8-feet deep.
Union Pacific has shut down the damaged stretch of track, which has been out of service since Friday. Trains have been rerouted over the Parsons subdivision, a stretch of track between Paola and Parsons.
The South Kansas and Oklahoma Railroad (SKOL) also suffered damaged track and has a traffic embargo in effect on 255 miles of track, according to a company statement. On Tuesday, 17 miles of track were under water and could not be inspected by crews. By Thursday, only a half-mile stretch near Coffeyville remained under water.
“Flood waters have receded for the most part and we are now able to see the damage left behind,” wrote Pat Cedeno, chief operating officer for the central region, in the statement.
The embargo has shut down rail traffic from all Kansas SKOL stations except the stretches between Pittsburg and Columbus and between Pittsburg and Hallowell.
Crews meet daily to evaluate repairs and assess damage. SKOL expects to lift the embargo station-by-station next week.
As with Union Pacific, SKOL must rebuild washed out roadbeds.
“Much of the railroad was built in low-lying areas next to rivers and streams more than 100 years ago,” said Cedeno. “We are evaluating damages to the sub-grade and in many areas the damage is deep inside the road bed and will take days to fully understand before initial repairs can be made.”
According to an earlier press release, SKOL also had 300 submerged railcars. Cooper said Union Pacific did not have any railcars flooded.
SKOL’s railcar repair shop in Neodesha was flooded and still under water Tuesday. After waters receded, an inspection team was able to begin cleanup on Thursday and the railroad is expected to reopen it Monday.
Repairs to the SKOL track will take longer.
“While we expect to have the railroad operating in a slow-ordered temporary state in a few weeks, the process for rebuilding this railroad and returning it to pre-flood staturs will take several months,” Cedeno said.