7 replies to this topic

[CNJRoss]

Hurricane Katrina Interrupts Service Through New Orleans

Updated 8/31/2005 4:00 p.m.

Union Pacific has completed the initial inspection of our main track and terminal facilities in and around the New Orleans area. While there is debris to be cleared, our track structure sustained no major damage. Structural inspections of bridges in the New Orleans area continue. Commercial electricity is still not available to many of our facilities. Telephone service is available to our Avondale Yard, however, data transmission capabilities are not available.

Members of the Union Pacific family have been deeply impacted by this disaster, along with other residents in the area. We continue to make contact with our employees in the area, to offer them assistance and determine their availability to report for work.

The embargoes remain in place for all traffic on the Livonia Subdivision between St. James, LA east to New Orleans, and on the Lafayette Subdivision to UP-served stations between New Iberia, LA east to New Orleans. We are working with our customers on the Livonia Subdivision, many of whom had damage to their facilities, to provide local service as needed as they work to restore their operations.

We continue to work closely with the eastern carriers as they assess the damage to their systems and are jointly developing alternative operating plans for New Orleans traffic through other gateways. We will provide more information regarding alternative routing of connecting traffic as those plans are finalized. In the meantime, we ask that customers continue to route their traffic as they have in the past, until we notify them of the alternative routing plans.

Customers with traffic moving to, from or through the New Orleans area should continue to anticipate delays.

[CNJRoss]

Letter from Jack Koraleski

September 2, 2005

To Our Customers:

I wanted to briefly provide you with information beyond what has been contained in our embargo notices regarding the status of Union Pacific operations in the area impacted by the tragic devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

Our Employees and the Communities We Serve

There are a little over 1,000 Union Pacific employees in Louisiana, with about 250 of those living in the New Orleans area. Communication with our employees in those areas impacted by the storm has been limited or non-existent. The safety and well-being of these employees, their families, and the communities we serve is our top priority. We have established a hot line for employees to call for help and have made counseling services available. We are working directly with FEMA regarding the transportation of fuel and supplies into damaged areas.

Status of UP Operations

Union Pacific accesses New Orleans from the west via two routes – the Lafayette Subdivision to the south and the Livonia Subdivision to the north. These lines come together at our Avondale Yard just west of the Mississippi River. We have no rail facilities in New Orleans proper, but do cross the river via the Huey P. Long Bridge to interchange traffic with the NS and CSX. Our normal interchange volume with these carriers via New Orleans is about 14 trains per day – 10 with the CSX and 4 with the NS.

With the brunt of the storm hitting New Orleans and points east, our routes to the west appear to have been spared major structural damage. A detailed engineering inspection of the bridge over the river is continuing. We continue to work through issues presented by downed power lines and loss of communications. Union Pacific embargoes remain in effect at this time for business east of St. James and New Iberia, Louisiana. Limited local service on the Livonia Subdivision has been restored. As our customer's facilities become operational, we will lift these embargoes.

Despite the apparent absence of significant physical damage, our operations in this region will continue to be impaired by restricted interchange with eastern carriers and the availability of our train crews, maintenance of way and signal employees as they deal with the personal losses suffered from the storm.

Waybilling of Traffic

New Orleans is not presently a viable interchange gateway. We are working with eastern carriers to keep commerce flowing as effectively as possible given the scope of the devastation. To minimize the impact on customers, UP has developed, with NS and with CSX, alternative routing plans for the traffic that would normally interchange through the New Orleans gateway. These plans will allow customers to continue to waybill traffic through the New Orleans interchange. Embargoes remain in place in the New Orleans area and other Gulf Coast locations. Traffic destined to embargoed stations will not be processed and customers need to advise us of alternative destinations. A current listing of embargoed stations is available on the AAR's embargo Web site (http://embargo.railinc.com/).

Going Forward

We thank you for your cooperation as we work to restore operations in this devastated area and minimize delays as we move increased volumes over other connecting gateways. We will work cooperatively with other carriers in an effort to minimize the impact on customers. For now, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of Katrina and our focus is on restoring safe operations as soon as possible.

We will continue to provide Web updates as further information becomes available.

/s/ Jack Koraleski

[KevinKorell]

From Lincoln, NE Journal-Star, 9/3/05:

Union Pacific to haul relief supplies

OMAHA — Omaha-based Union Pacific Railroad will be hauling relief supplies into the hard-hit Gulf Coast, the company said Friday. UP has an emergency contract to eventually move nearly 300 trailer loads of federal aid to Memphis, Tenn., said Kathryn Blackwell, assistant vice president of corporate communications.

Full story is here.

[CNJRoss]

UP special hurricane updates here.

Here's what is says as of 9/3:

News Updates

(9/2 - 7:30 a.m.) The explosion and fire Friday morning in New Orleans was in a warehouse near railroad tracks. We have no reason to believe this was near Union Pacific Railroad property. Information regarding this incident continues to be gathered.


Relief Efforts

A Katrina Response Command Center has been established at the Harriman Dispatching Center to coordinate activities and centralize response and communications with governmental agencies, Amtrak, connecting lines, Maintenance of Way material, supply trains, monitoring conditions of connecting railroads, Labor Relations, labor organizations and Crew Management Services.
Union Pacific is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to assess the feasibility of an Amtrak evacuation shuttle from New Orleans to Houston, and providing other technical support.
Union Pacific initially will move nearly 300 trailer loads of water to Memphis, Tenn., where the supplies will be trucked to hurricane victims. Shipments will continue for an estimated three months.
Internal efforts are being coordinated to assist the more than 250 employees who work in Jefferson Parish and were affected by the disaster.


Service Updates

Trains can operate on the Livonia Subdivision toward Avondale, La. Power lines and downed trees have been removed from the tracks just north of Avondale. In addition, bridge engineers inspected the Huey P. Long Bridge and found no structural damage. Normal New Orleans train flows will operate into Livonia, with alternate gateways established at Memphis, Tenn., and Monroe, La. These will be revised as CSX and Norfolk Southern continue to update New Orleans' availability.
Detours have been effective, with Memphis as our primary interchange point with eastern carriers.

Employees from across the system are being dispatched to help with operations.
Additional Service information and Embargo updates can be found in the Customers section of our site.


Employee Information

Employees who have been directly affected by Hurricane Katrina are encouraged to call the toll-free Employee Hurricane Assistance hot line to contact the railroad and obtain referrals for assistance. The hot line number is 1-877-877-2567, Option 1. Employee Assistance Program and Peer Support counselors are available to help employees. TE&Y employees may also contact CMS to report their status.

Employees who have exhausted their paid leave and are unable to work due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina will continue to receive pay for up to one month. UP will continue to reevaluate this policy as the full effects of this tragedy unfold.

To show the company’s support for their efforts, Union Pacific is providing differential pay and/or benefits to employees called to active service in the Army/Air National Guard or as reservists in the U.S. Armed Services for the relief effort. Contact information is available on the Employees site.

TE&Y employees affected by the hurricane who have Internet access should contact Crew Management. (From the Employees site homepage, click on Departments >Operating >Crew Management.) Then, click on the Online Service Request. Under the General tab, click on General Feedback and put in your information. This will create a trouble ticket, and a CMS representative will respond. Employees then can check the status of the request online.

[CNJRoss]

Hurricane Katrina Interrupts Service Through New Orleans

Updated 9/6/2005 1:00 p.m.

Power lines and downed trees have been removed from the tracks just north of Avondale. Local service to our customers on the line between Livonia and Avondale has been restored. We will amend our embargo to allow traffic into our customers on this line as the customer's facilities become operational. In addition, bridge engineers inspected the Huey P. Long Bridge, which UP crosses to interchange traffic with the CSX and the NS, and found no structural damage.

While New Orleans continues to not be a viable interchange gateway, we are working with eastern carriers to keep commerce flowing as effectively as possible given the scope of the devastation. To minimize the impact on customers, UP has developed, with NS and with CSX, alternative routing plans for the traffic that would normally interchange through the New Orleans gateway. These plans will allow customers to continue to waybill traffic through the New Orleans interchange. Embargoes remain in place in the New Orleans area and other Gulf Coast locations. Traffic destined to embargoed stations will not be processed and customers need to advise us of alternative destinations. A current listing of embargoed stations is available on the AAR's embargo web site (http://embargo.railinc.com/).

Customers should anticipate up to an additional 48 hours transit time on shipments being detoured through alternative gateways.

We continue to make contact with our employees in the area, to offer them assistance.

We thank you for your cooperation as we work to restore operations in this devastated area and minimize delays as we move increased volumes over other connecting gateways. We will work cooperatively with other carriers in an effort to minimize the impact on customers. For now, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of Katrina and our focus is on restoring safe operations as soon as possible.

[CNJRoss]

Updated 9/08/2005 4:00 p.m.

Local train service has been restored and is running into our Avondale Yard. We are only able to operate during daylight hours, due to police-enforced curfews in the New Orleans area.

Union Pacific is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate efforts on their transportation requirements.

Union Pacific has handled the shipment of nearly 300 trailer loads of water to Memphis, Tenn., where the supplies will be trucked to hurricane victims. Shipments will continue for an estimated three months, sending 40 containers per day to the area.

We continue to work with eastern carriers to keep commerce flowing as effectively as possible. Working with the NS and CSX, we are re-routing the 14 trains that would normally interchange through the New Orleans gateway daily. These plans are allowing customers to continue to waybill traffic through the New Orleans interchange.

Embargoes remain in place in the New Orleans area and other Gulf Coast locations. Traffic destined to embargoed stations will not be processed and customers need to advise us of alternative destinations. All affected railroads are updating their respective embargoes daily as repairs are made and customer's facilities become operational. A current listing of embargoed stations is available on the AAR's embargo web site at: (http://embargo.railinc.com/).

Customers should anticipate up to an additional 48 hours transit time on shipments being detoured through alternative gateways.

[CNJRoss]

Updated 9/13/2005 8:00 a.m.

We continue to work with eastern carriers to keep commerce flowing as effectively as possible. We're anticipating limited interchange with the NS over the New Orleans gateway to resume today, Tuesday, September 13, for traffic destined east of hurricane-embargoed points on their lines. Interchange with the NS for local New Orleans traffic continues to be embargoed.

Working with the CSX, we are continuing to re-route the additional trains that would normally interchange through the New Orleans gateway daily. These plans are allowing customers to continue to waybill traffic through the New Orleans interchange. Customers should anticipate up to an additional 48 hours transit time on shipments being detoured through alternative gateways.

Local service is available into our Taft and Avondale yards for customers who are operational. We are only able to operate during daylight hours, due to police-enforced curfews in the New Orleans area. Customers who are not operational are encouraged to notify UP Customer Service (1-800-272-8777) of their current plans for beginning production. We are staging rail cars for many customers and we must make alternative arrangements for this equipment in order to keep the line fluid now that interchange traffic has been resumed.

[CNJRoss]

Updated 9/20/2005 4:00 p.m.

Interchange resumed last week with the NS over the New Orleans gateway for traffic destined east of hurricane-embargoed points on their lines. We continue to work with CSX to re-route additional trains that would normally interchange through the New Orleans gateway daily. These plans are allowing customers to continue to waybill traffic through the New Orleans interchange. Customers should anticipate 24-48 hour delays on shipments being detoured through alternative gateways.

The only stations embargoed on the Union Pacific are New Orleans for local traffic and Westwego in the New Orleans area. We are able to provide local service to all other customers on our Livonia and Lafayette subdivisions.

Customers who are not operational are encouraged to notify UP Customer Service (1-800-272-8777) of their current plans for beginning production. We are staging rail cars for many customers and we must make alternative arrangements for this equipment in order to keep the line fluid now that interchange traffic has been resumed.