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U.S. freight rails suspend New Orleans lines (Reuters circulated the following article on August 29.) BOSTON -- Hurricane Katrina has forced Union Pacific Corp. and other major rail operators to halt freight traffic in and out of New Orleans, delaying shipments of chemicals and coal, officials at those companies said on Monday. Shares of railroad companies fell on concerns about the storm -- already estimated to be the most expensive hurricane ever to hit the United States -- with the Dow Jones Railroads index falling 0.5 percent by midday. New Orleans is a large central connection city for the rails since manufacturers carry industrial supplies like chemicals and parts to factories in the southern United States as well as moving containers across the country. Union Pacific, the largest U.S. railroad which runs 25 trains a day in and out of New Orleans, said it suspended traffic in and out of the city on Sunday when the flood gates were closed to brace for the storm. The rail companies said they moved supplies -- such as power generators, chain saws and rail ties -- into the area to repair any damaged lines once the storm passes. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the No. 2 U.S. railroad operator, runs four trains a day in and out of New Orleans, while Norfolk Southern Corp. (NSC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said it runs 10 to 12 trains a day in and out of the city. Both have suspended service to and from New Orleans. Katrina made landfall at 7:10 a.m. EDT (1110 GMT) in southern Plaquemines parish in Louisiana, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) south-southeast of New Orleans, as a Category 4 storm, with maximum sustained winds at 140 miles per hour (225 kilometers per hour), according to the National Hurricane Center. The storm is now a Category 3 on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. The rail companies, including CSX Corp. (CSX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), said they have been trying to detour some of the shipments through cities like Memphis, Tennessee, and Little Rock, Arkansas. New Orleans, along with Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago and Salem, Illinois, is one of five cities that links the east coast railways systems with the west coast ones. A lot of freight going to Mississippi, Atlanta and Florida. For now, most rail operators said all they can do is wait. "Right now, we're waiting for everything to pass and we have a helicopter standing by and we'll go up in the air and see what the damage was," said Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband. From blet site Tuesday, August 30, 2005
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