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UPRR - Hurricane Harvey to Impact Rail Operations


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#11 CNJRoss

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Posted 05 September 2017 - 09:49 AM

UP Customer News:

 
Gulf Region Rail Operations Update

Posted Date: September 4, 2017

 

To Our Customers,

 

We continue to make great strides restoring our Gulf Coast operations impacted by the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey. Where repairs have been completed we are, or will soon be, operating trains.

 

We will continue to do everything we can to restore service as your facilities come back on line and your teams return to work, but we ask for your patience as the safety and well-being of our employees and their families is our top priority. As work continues, we remain committed to providing the most up-to-date feedback to allow your teams to make effective decisions for your operations. 

 

As Union Pacific's freight rail service in the Houston area comes back on line, people are urged to be safe at railroad crossings and along railroad tracks. While tracks may have been dormant for several days following the storm, many of them are now active. As always, heed all warning signs and signals at crossings and do not trespass on railroad property or along railroad tracks. Additional rail safety information can be found at www.up.com/worththewait

 

Following are updates since our last notice: 

  • We have gained access to our rail line near Crosby, Texas, and have begun work to repair and restore the two lines that link the Houston and Beaumont, Texas, areas together. Work is progressing well and we anticipate opening up one, if not both, of these lines within 48 hours.
  • The Baytown branch line from Market Street yard through Baytown to Dayton, Texas, is back in service.
  • Flooding remains an issue in the Beaumont, Orange and Port Arthur, Texas, areas. We are inspecting and repairing our track as access allows.
  • Where routes are open and crews are available, the Southern Region of our network is operating trains at normal levels today (Labor Day).  
  • We continue to adjust our transportation plan to route trains around the out-of-service line segments. The change in traffic flows has created crew availability challenges. Where feasible, crews are signing up and training on temporary work location assignments to assist with the recovery effort. Your patience as we work through this issue with the support of our train crews is appreciated.  

A complete list of active Union Pacific embargoes can be viewed on our embargo page. The embargoes are for all rail traffic, including intermodal equipment and automotive shipments. 

 

If you have questions regarding the movement of specific rail equipment, please continue to input Service Issues via our secure customer website, MyUPRR.com (User ID and password required). Our Hurricane Hotline is 800-365-6963 and should be used by our customers to report any damage to facilities that would impact our ability to provide service once operations resume. This information should include damage or tracks out of service and estimated facility repair time.

 

Please contact the National Customer Service Center or your Union Pacific representative with any questions.

 



#12 CNJRoss

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Posted 05 September 2017 - 09:18 PM

UP Customer News:

 
Gulf Region Rail Operations Update

Posted Date: September 5, 2017

 

To Our Customers,

 

We continue to make great strides restoring our Gulf Coast operations impacted by the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey. Where repairs have been completed we are, or will soon be, operating trains.

 

We will continue to do everything we can to restore service as your facilities come back on line and your teams return to work, but we ask for your patience as the safety and well-being of our employees and their families is our top priority. As work continues, we remain committed to providing the most up-to-date feedback to allow your teams to make effective decisions for your operations. 

 

Following are updates since our last notice: 

 

The following areas have been returned to service:

  • Baytown Subdivision between Market Street Yard and Dayton, Texas
  • Coleto Creek Subdivision running west out of Victoria, Texas
  • Sealy Industrial Lead from Sealy to Katy, Texas
  • Kosmos Industrial Lead from Sinton Junction to just north of Ingleside, Texas
  • Strang Subdivision from Houston to the LaPorte/Strang, Texas, area as a result of repairs to the bridge over the Sims Bayou 

The primary focus today is opening lines between Houston and Beaumont, Texas. Once this portion of our railroad is opened, we will be able to operate traffic directly from the Livonia and Avondale, Louisiana, areas to Houston without the need to run the trains through Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

 

A complete list of active Union Pacific embargoes can be viewed on our embargo page. The embargoes are for all rail traffic, including automotive shipments. 

 

If you have questions regarding the movement of specific rail equipment, please continue to input Service Issues via our secure customer website, MyUPRR.com (User ID and password required). Our Hurricane Hotline is 800-365-6963 and should be used by our customers to report any damage to facilities that would impact our ability to provide service once operations resume. This information should include damage or tracks out of service and estimated facility repair time. The hotline number should also be used to let us know when your facility is back in service.

 

As Union Pacific's freight rail service in the Houston area comes back on line, people are urged to be safe at railroad crossings and along railroad tracks. While tracks may have been dormant for several days following the storm, many of them are now active. As always, heed all warning signs and signals at crossings and do not trespass on railroad property or along railroad tracks. Additional rail safety information can be found at www.up.com/worththewait.

 

This map is for illustrative purposes only. The map is not inclusive of all industrial leads, branch lines or yards. Please refer to the embargo page for a complete list of active embargoes and rail station listings.

img_up_2harvey090517.gif

 

Please contact the National Customer Service Center or your Union Pacific representative with any questions.

 

 



#13 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 September 2017 - 04:47 PM

UP Customer News:

 
Gulf Region Rail Operations Update

Posted Date: September 6, 2017

 

To Our Customers,

 

We continue to make great strides restoring our Gulf Coast operations impacted by the aftermath of Tropical Storm Harvey. Where repairs have been completed we are, or will soon be, operating trains.

 

Following are updates since our last notice: 

  • Overnight, we opened the Houston and Lafayette Subdivisions, allowing traffic to move between Houston to just past Lake Charles, Louisiana, and onward to locations including Livonia and Alexandria, Louisiana.
  • We plan to open the Beaumont Subdivision this afternoon, allowing us to run eastbound traffic on one subdivision and westbound traffic on the other, reduce train meets and improve transit times. 
  • The Texas City Industrial Lead is back in service.

A complete list of active Union Pacific embargoes can be viewed on our embargo page. The embargoes are for all rail traffic, including automotive shipments. 

 

We will continue to do everything we can to restore service as your facilities come back on line and your teams return to work, but we ask for your patience as the safety and well-being of our employees and their families is our top priority. As work continues, we remain committed to providing the most up-to-date feedback to allow your teams to make effective decisions for your operations.

 

If you have questions regarding the movement of specific rail equipment, please continue to input Service Issues via our secure customer website, MyUPRR.com (User ID and password required). Our Hurricane Hotline is 800-365-6963 and should be used by our customers to report any damage to facilities that would impact our ability to provide service once operations resume. This information should include damage or tracks out of service and estimated facility repair time. The hotline number should also be used to let us know when your facility is back in service.

 

This map is for illustrative purposes only. The map is not inclusive of all industrial leads, branch lines or yards. Please refer to the embargo page for a complete list of active embargoes and rail station listings.

img_up_harvey090617.gif

Please contact the National Customer Service Center or your Union Pacific representative with any questions.

 



#14 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 September 2017 - 08:40 PM

Reuters 9/2/17 (late post):
 

Union Pacific says Arkema chemical plant fire hindering line repairs

 

HOUSTON, Sept 2 (Reuters) - Union Pacific Corp said on Saturday repairs to a rail line damaged by Tropical Stormy Harvey are being hindered by a fire at an Arkema chemical plant in Crosby, Texas.

 

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#15 CNJRoss

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Posted 07 September 2017 - 04:39 PM

UP Customer News:

 
Tropical Storm Harvey Update from Beth Whited, Exec. Vice President Marketing & Sales

Posted Date: September 7, 2017

 

To Our Customers,

 

On Friday, August 25, 2017, Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. The flooding that followed was catastrophic and has had a major impact on our business and the businesses of our customers. But more importantly, this unprecedented weather event affected the lives of countless people in the Gulf region. Families were displaced. People were injured. Some lost their lives. Many of those families were our employees and many of them were yours, too. We were very fortunate not to have lost any Union Pacific employees or family members, but we know others weren’t as fortunate. While we are working hard to restore our network and support your business, we want you to know the families affected by Harvey are top of mind and close at heart. As we rebuild, the safety and well-being of the people behind the loss and devastation will continue to be our primary focus.   

 

Over the last two weeks we’ve worked tirelessly to restore service in the affected areas, where the damage has been significant. On the morning of Monday, August 28, we were aware of 96 outages in the Gulf Region. As the rain continued to fall, by Wednesday morning, that number had skyrocketed to more than 150. 

 

Thanks to the incredible work of countless teams, today, the majority of service has been restored. At the height of the storm 1,750 miles of track were out of service and 2,440 route miles were affected. As of today, just 50 miles of track are out of service and 420 route miles have been affected. While we’d like to see zero impacts to our service, we are proud of the substantial progress we’ve made. To give our customers a sense of the magnitude of work performed, I’m including a link to a presentation that further highlights our Rail Impact and Service Recovery Efforts

 

What you don't see in this presentation is the massive coordination effort happening behind the scenes here at Union Pacific:

  • Conference calls are taking place around the clock between our Operations, Engineering, Network Planning, Dispatch Center, Fuel and Supply teams as well as our National Customer Service Center to discuss the impacts and enact the proper strategies to move forward. 
  • Crews are relocating to provide much-needed manpower in the affected areas. 
  • We’ve added 145 locomotives to the network to handle the surge in traffic and have plans to put a total of 200 in place.  
  • In light of several pipeline and refinery disruptions, our Supply department is enacting plans to ensure our locomotives have the fuel needed to serve our customers. 
  • The Houston Service Unit mechanical team has inspected all of the 25,508-car inventory in affected areas to get them back on line. 
  • Staffing has been adjusted in our National Customer Service center to ensure we’re readily available to handle your needs. 

These are just a few of the efforts we’re taking to help all of us get back to business as usual. And we won’t stop until we are fully operational. 

 

That said, we must stress that full recovery will take time. As we inspect areas of track, we learn of additional repairs required. Reroutes create crew shortages and disrupt car flows. Many customer facilities remain closed. We are also diligently working through the backlog of trains and car inventories. Through it all, we must be keenly aware of maintaining a safe environment for our employees and the public. As we move forward in a safe and diligent manner, we ask for your patience. 

 

We will continue to communicate with you as progress is made. If you could please do the same, we would very much appreciate it. As your facilities come back on line, please make a call to our Hurricane Hotline at 800-365-6963 to notify our team. 

 

Thank you for your continued patience. We wish you and yours safety and comfort in the times ahead.

img_up_whited_sig.gif

Beth Whited
Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer
Marketing & Sales

 

 



#16 CNJRoss

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Posted 07 September 2017 - 10:06 PM

Reuters 9/6/17:
 

Union Pacific CEO sees pent-up demand in Harvey recovery

 

 

HOUSTON (Reuters) - No. 1 U.S. railroad Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N) has repaired most of the damage caused to its network by catastrophic flooding brought by Hurricane Harvey to Houston late last month and its network should be fully operational around the end of September, the company’s top executive said on Wednesday.

 

In an interview with Reuters after surveying damage to the Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad’s operations around Houston, Chief Executive Officer Lance Fritz said that while the storm will have a slight impact on third-quarter earnings, pent-up demand from manufacturers in the area and recovery efforts should boost the railroad in the fourth quarter.

 

Fritz said that “immediately following the hurricane, we were cut off from Houston in every direction. Virtually every (rail) subdivision was washed out or under water.”

 

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#17 CNJRoss

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Posted 08 October 2017 - 12:34 PM

Anacostia Rail Holdings news release:

 
GCS preparation, planning key to quickly restoring rail yard operations after hurricane
 
 
DAYTON, Texas - October 6, 2017 - The lessons of previous Texas hurricanes were not lost on the Gulf Coast Switching Company (GCS). So when Hurricane Harvey arrived in August 2017, GCS was ready.
 
GCS is responsible for maintaining a major Union Pacific Railroad (UP) freight rail yard in Dayton, Texas. After Hurricane Ike hit Southeast Texas in 2008 with extensive flooding, GCS management began working on long-term facility improvements to better protect the critical Houston-area rail yard from future storms.
 
Those preparations were put to the test by Harvey, which made landfall on August 26, 2017 and dumped more than 50 inches of rain on the yard.
 
As Harvey approached, GCS moved its three switching locomotives and all maintenance equipment to the yard’s highest elevations. When the storm hit, the yard experienced flooding in several locations.
 
“We never had to reposition any rail cars, because the water never rose much above the railheads,” says GCS President Leigh Walters. “Our crews pitched in to return the yard to regular service within a week of when the storm hit.”
 
Walters explained that over the past several years, GCS—together with UP—undertook a program to improve drainage in the facility, which can store 3,000 freight cars on some 26 miles of track. The yard is maintained by GCS, which also performs some switching operations there.
 
An initial two-year program cleaned all ditches that drain water away from the track structure, as well as a main drainage channel that carries the water away from the rail yard. Once that improvement program was finished, GCS scheduled regular cleaning to prevent vegetation and other materials from refilling the ditches.
 
 Walters credits the ditch maintenance program with keeping flooding to a minimum, and hard work from GCS employees restored rail service within the week.
 
“It was the dedication of our own crews that made it possible for us to resume service so quickly,” he says. “Despite the fact that some of our people were facing flooding at their homes, everyone showed up to help restore our service. I’m really proud of our team,” said Walters.

 






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