(The Associated Press circulated the following on June 19.)
OMAHA, Neb. – Union Pacific Corp. said it resumed limited shipments on its main line across Iowa Thursday after the floodwaters receded enough to allow repairs.
The Omaha-based railroad imposed embargoes on all shipments, except coal, on several lines in the Midwest last week because of the flooding.
“The whole nation has seen the flood impact in Cedar Rapids, and those floodwaters made our main line double track impassable in that area,” Jack Koraleski, the railroad’s executive vice president of sales, wrote in a letter to customers Thursday.
Koraleski said that after water levels dropped railroad crews were able to make enough repairs to reopen one main track Wednesday. The second main line reopened Thursday.
But Koraleski said operations remain limited on the main east-west line across Iowa, and an embargo remains in place on traffic to and from Cedar Rapids itself.
Besides the major flooding in Iowa, Union Pacific experienced intermittent outages on several other lines over the past several days. The main line north-south line between Kansas City, Mo., and Des Moines, Iowa, was disrupted, as were the lines between Kansas City and St. Louis and between Chicago and Minneapolis.
It may take five to six weeks before damage to tracks, yards and signal systems is fully repaired and normal operations resume, said Jim Young, the railroad’s chairman and CEO. Young spoke at an investor conference in New York Thursday.
Union Pacific said it’s possible the railroad will impose local embargoes while repairs are made.
On Tuesday, the company lowered its second-quarter earnings prediction by 5 cents per share. It cited the flooding problems and continued high fuel prices.
The company now expects to report a profit at the low end of its previously issued range of 90 cents to 98 cents per share.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial predict a profit of 92 cents, on average.
Shares rose $1.71, or 2.3 percent, to $77.53 in afternoon trading.