Hurricane Rita

[Anonymous]

KCS Comes through Hurricane Rita Largely Unscathed

Kansas City Southern's (KCS) track structure and facilities were largely unscathed by Hurricane Rita. Following an inspection on Sunday, it was determined that despite approximately 1,500 downed trees on the lines between Shreveport, La. and Port Arthur, TX and between DeQuincy and Lake Charles, La., the tracks appear to be structurally sound and not underwater. Damage to KCS' facilities in Beaumont, TX and Port Arthur, including Pabfac and Pabtex is minimal.

Maintenance of way crews have already cleared approximately half of the trees and anticipate that the line between Beaumont and DeQuincy will be passable by nightfall. The line between Lake Charles and DeQuincy is anticipated to be passable by midday tomorrow.

The greatest challenge at this time is getting crews in place to run trains and providing resources for the crews like electric utilities, fuel, lodging, water and ice. KCS is working quickly to get crews in place and to contact employees whose homes may have been affected by the hurricane.

As soon as crews are in place, the first order of business will be to work off a backlog of cars that were staged away from the storm. Embargoes for through traffic bound for Mexico or terminating on The Texas Mexican Railway Company will be lifted as soon as the line is passable. Embargoes for traffic to or from particular customers or stations will be lifted as customers resume operations. As of last week, the following embargoes were placed in effect for Hurricane Rita:

The Kansas City Southern Railway Company
Buhler, DeQuincy, Lake Charles, Mossville and West Lake Charles, La., as well as Beaumont, Chaison, Evadale, Lemonville, Mulford, Port Arthur and Port Neches, TX. Embargoes remain in effect for Delisle and Gulfport, Miss. with the exception of three Gulfport customers and for New Orleans, La. proper and interchange traffic with the exception of NS and CN.

The Texas Mexican Railway Company
Agua Dulce, Aguilares, Alice, Banquette, Benavidas, Berry, Bruni, Corpus Christi, Deer Park, Hebbronville, Houston, Laredo, milepost 74 and Robstown, TX.

TFM, S.A. de C.V.
Nuevo Laredo (embargo does not cover traffic to/from Union Pacific)
Matamoros and Brownsville (embargo does not cover traffic to and from the BRG Railroad nor does it cover traffic to final destination Matamoros)

KCS will advise customers as new information becomes available. Updates can also be found from the link on the home page of www.kcsi.com titled Service Status Updates Regarding Hurricanes.

[Anonymous]

Norfolk Southern Service Alert

Update: New Orleans

September 26, 2005

Norfolk Southern has restored freight service for interchange shipments
with BNSF, CN, KCS, and UP, via New Orleans, La., on Monday, September
26, 2005. Repair and service restoration efforts continue to focus on
returning Norfolk Southern’s Oliver Yard and other facilities at New
Orleans to service. Efforts also continue to repair track and gain
access into Chalmette via the Florida Avenue Bridge.

Customers in the New Orleans area are encouraged to contact our Central
Yard Operations Center at [phone] with questions or information
regarding current or anticipated service requirements.

Norfolk Southern has lifted all Hurricane related embargoes with the
exception of industries located south of Lake Pontchartrain and the New
Orleans area.

------------------
Norfolk Southern Corporation
www.nscorp.com

[Anonymous]

This is the AAR website where all embargoes are posted, including those due to weather (Rita). This is the version sorted by date. Its public data.
http://embargo.railinc.com/index.cfm?content=embargo_issueDate.cfm

[Anonymous]

Looks like Lake Charles, LA and Beaumont, TX and surrounding areas took the brunt of Rita. Of course, N.O. is back to start, again, with the levy breaches. Big gasoline supply problems. Flooding expected from continuing heavy rains in Texas and north into Oklahoma...


LC

[Anonymous]

9/23/2005 Preparing for Next Major Storm
Railroads hunker down as Hurricane Rita nears Texas, Louisiana

With Hurricane Rita bearing down on parts of Texas and Louisiana, ready to come ashore early tomorrow, freight and passenger railroads have been scrambling the past two days to batten down the hatches and prepare for the storm’s wrath.

Yesterday, BNSF Railway Co. suspended all operations in Harris County, Texas, to enable 300 employees to evacuate and attend to personal needs. The Class I also relocated 25 employees from a Spring, Texas, dispatching center to BNSF’s Fort Worth headquarters.

The Class I plans to continue operating coal trains to a Reliant Energy plant southwest of Houston. However, the railroad relocated all freight cars from Galveston Island, and moved inland other locomotives and cars threatened by potential flooding.

Meanwhile, Trinity Railway Express (TRE) will operate a passenger train today on BNSF’s line between Houston and Dallas to evacuate 450 Houston residents. Comprising two TRE locomotives and six passenger cars, the train will be operated by a TRE crew provided by Herzog Transit Services Inc. In Houston, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas, suspended transit-rail and bus service yesterday.

At Union Pacific Railroad, officials have embargoed all traffic moving to or from Lake Charles, La., to Houston, and south of Houston to Brownsville, Texas. All intermodal traffic destined for Houston and Englewood also is embargoed.

The Class I is moving cars out of its Texas coastal yards in Galveston, Freeport, Corpus Christi and Bloomington to higher ground, and removing signal masts and crossing gates.

Kansas City Southern also is repositioning locomotives and cars away from points in Houston, Beaumont, Corpus Christi and Port Arthur, Texas. KCS also has embargoed traffic to Beaumont, Port Arthur, Port Neches and Chaison, Texas.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is working with all railroads, the Association of American Railroads, and American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association to relocate cars carrying hazardous materials cars in Texas and Louisiana. The department also is expediting a waiver process to enable railroads to clear damaged equipment and resume operations more quickly after the hurricane passes.

[trainboyH16-44]

Wow, I'm really happy that all we get here are-40c and blizzards!
Trainboy
P.S. Goog luck to all in the path

[Big_Boy_4005]

Larry, I heat with natural gas, and they are talking about a 71% increase. It is already up over 40%. I expect to see a bill of up to $1000 for February which is usually the worst month. These uncontrolled energy prices are going to kill the economy.

I don't envy you being on heating oil. Your percentage increase sounds worse than mine.

Around here, large natural gas consumers can get lower rates if they have heating systems that can switch over to oil on demand from the utility, oil being more expensive and less desirable. This winter, the utility may exercise their option to force those customers onto backup, something which doesn't happen very often. This will free up supply for those who can't switch, but put a nasty pinch on the wallets of those who can.

The reason I'm familiar with this practice is that I used to be in the apartment business, and some of the larger buildings used this type of system. These increases will be passed on to the renters eventually, and the inflationary cycle will really begin.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by edblysard

As a note of interest...
Due to the number of cars that have run out of gas...the city of Houston and Harris county have dispatched gasoline tank truck to patrol IH10, IH45 and state highway 290...they are filling up cars, free of charge...
IH10 from State Highway 6 to Seguine is west bound both sides...no inbound traffic allowed, same with IH45, from State Highway 249 to Buffalo Tx...290 is not closed inbound, the same for highway 59...to speed up post hurrican help accessing the city from the Austin and hill country area.

Ed

Several people were "stranded" in Schulenburg last night as all of the gas stations had run out of gas. A friend of ours has a little breakfast place right by the Shell station, and she said when she got to work this morning people were sleeping on their cars. But this morning he got a truckload of gas, and the rush was on! The police had blocked off one lane of traffice just to go into the station.

I went out to an overpass west of town about 10:00 last night and the traffic was flowing well. If all the lanes wouldn't have been open westbound it would have been a real mess, but the state was smart to open it up one way like that. It wasn't near as crowded this morning. I'lm wondering if the traffic will pick up this evening again, or most of it is past.

Although we're quite a ways west of where the hurricane will come ashore, we're still expecting rain and wind. In fact, the wind started gusting pretty well around noon today. It seems to be blowing about 5-10 mph with occasional gusts a little higher. Almost all of our friends have visitors from the Houston area. There's been a lot of helicopter traffic, and, for around here, a lot of ambulance calls.


mike

[tree68]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Big_Boy_4005
... I'm not looking forward to my heating bill this winter,

Nor am I. My heating oil company just bumped up my budget payment - from $118 a month to $298...

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Chris30

Those long, cold and snowy midwest winter aren't looking so bad now are they.
Note to evacuee's -- Wilma is watching

CC

Chris, I'm not looking forward to my heating bill this winter, but it may not be so bad due to global warming causing a milder winter. The expense of evacuation in the face of a hurricane makes the increased heating costs look small.

It sounds like Rita is weakening, as the eyewall collapses over cooler water. Winds have dropped to around 120 MPH, down from the max of over 170. That's Cat 3. It sounds like Houston and Galveston are still going to get some strong wind and heavy rain, but nothing close to a direct hit. Being on the west side of the storm is going to make a big difference for them.

So much for pumping out New Orleans. Water is spilling back into previously flooded areas of the city, coming through gaps at the tops of the levees. The real question is will they be able to stop the flow before the water level equalizes? Is it even worth trying, since everything in the effected area is already destroyed from Katrina?

[Chris30]

Those long, cold and snowy midwest winter aren't looking so bad now are they.
Note to evacuee's -- Wilma is watching

CC

[vsmith]

Oh Poopsicles! Here we go again folks!

News reports that water is again flowing over one of the repaired levees in NO and the 9th ward is flooding again!

[BudKarr]

Well, at least there's relevant info being provided regarding railroads. Interesting.

BK

[Anonymous]

.S. Department of Transportation Preparing for Hurricane Rita with
Equipment, Personnel and Vehicles to Aid in Evacuation, Relief and
Repair


WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile air traffic control
equipment,
technical personnel, trucks, buses, airplanes and ocean-going vessels
are now
in place to support the massive federal, state and local effort to
prepare for
Hurricane Rita, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta
announced
today.
"We are working hand in hand with federal, state and local
officials to
make sure they have every available transportation asset in place to
get
people out, supplies in and key facilities back up and running in
areas where
Hurricane Rita is expected to make landfall," Secretary Mineta said.
Secretary Mineta noted that the U.S. Department of Transportation
is
taking the following steps to support Federal Emergency Management
Agency and
the states of Texas and Louisiana as they prepare for Hurricane Rita.
The
Secretary noted that additional resources will be provided as
requested by the
states:

Aircraft and Air Traffic Control
* Securing aircraft to evacuate Texas residents, as well as
Hurricane
Katrina evacuees, by air from Houston to Ft. Smith and from
Corpus
Christi and Beaumont to Smyrna, Tennessee.
* Putting six MD-80 aircraft on standby in Baton Rouge,
Louisiana to
support another airlift out of Louisiana if needed.
* Pre-positioning mobile communications and navigational
equipment along
with technical personnel in Austin, Texas and Baton Rouge to
deploy
after the storm passes to restore basic air traffic control
services.
* Maintaining a small staff at Houston aviation facilities to
reactivate
key equipment as soon as possible after the storm leaves the
area.

Buses
* Providing over 650 buses in response to requests from Texas
and
Louisiana officials to help to support evacuation efforts.
* Working with transit agencies across the country to identify
additional
buses that can be acquired and deployed to support evacuations
in Texas
and Louisiana as needed.

Trucks and Supplies
* Delivering one tanker of diesel fuel, six trucks of tarps,
five trucks
of plastic sheeting, two trailers filled with cots, one
trailer filled
with tents and one filled with sleeping bags to FEMA staging
areas in
Texas. These deliveries are in addition to supplies already
provided
to the region as part of the Hurricane Katrina response.
* Putting ten trucks on standby at Ft. Sam Houston in San
Antonio to move
additional supplies as needed.
* Suspending rules limiting hours of service for truck drivers
in the
affected region so emergency and repair crews will be able to
work as
needed to support evacuation, recovery and repair operations.

Trains and Equipment
* Working with railroad operators, the Association of American
Railroads
and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association
to
identify hazmat cars in Texas and Louisiana and evacuate cars
as
needed.
* Maintaining an expedited process for issuing waivers to allow
rail
operators to clear damaged equipment in order to resume
operations
after the Hurricane passes through the region.

Ports and Shipping
* Staging personnel with expertise in repairing port
infrastructure in
New Orleans to deploy as needed to support repair efforts.
* Maintaining twelve Ready Reserve Vessels in New Orleans (4);
Port
Sulphur, Louisiana (1); Houston (2); Orange, Texas (3); and
Beaumont
(2) so they will be available to provide power, equipment and
housing
for workers in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita.

In addition, personnel from the Department of Transportation are
working
with state and local officials to assess transportation
infrastructure in the
regions likely to be affected by Hurricane Rita. These teams are
beginning to
develop plans to quickly repair and rebuild roads, bridges, ports,
pipelines
and airports should they be damaged by Hurricane Rita, Mineta noted.



SOURCE U.S. Department of Transportation

[Anonymous]

god dont want the ma de gra going on again!!!

[railroadyoshi]

All I can say is all those down there will be in my thoughts.

[edblysard]

As a note of interest...
Due to the number of cars that have run out of gas...the city of Houston and Harris county have dispatched gasoline tank truck to patrol IH10, IH45 and state highway 290...they are filling up cars, free of charge...
IH10 from State Highway 6 to Seguine is west bound both sides...no inbound traffic allowed, same with IH45, from State Highway 249 to Buffalo Tx...290 is not closed inbound, the same for highway 59...to speed up post hurrican help accessing the city from the Austin and hill country area.

Ed

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Big_Boy_4005

I've been watching the timelapse sattelite images on the news, and I may be wrong, but it looks like this thing is turning north more than originally forcast. Better safe than sorry, but places as far south as Corpus Christi look like they are going to get off easy. Call me crazy, but I think Louisiana is going to get whacked again.

BB -
You are correct. Rita is turning earlier and harder than predicted. Projections now have the eye east of Galveston with the path possibly as far east as the Louisisana border. Given the large size of the strom I think both states will feel significant effects. At least it has dropped down to a Cat 4 storm...

LC

[Big_Boy_4005]

I've been watching the timelapse sattelite images on the news, and I may be wrong, but it looks like this thing is turning north more than originally forcast. Better safe than sorry, but places as far south as Corpus Christi look like they are going to get off easy. Call me crazy, but I think Louisiana is going to get whacked again.

[vsmith]

At least people are listening to the evacuation warnings this time. The lessons from Katrina are being learned, I saw that manditory evacuation of all the coast, with fleets of busses is already being started.

Unfortunatly just like Katrina some are staying behind to ride it out.

[Anonymous]

Here comes more reroute traffic through St. Louis!!! I have no doubt in my mind that I will begin to see more reroute traffic on CSX line from St. Louis to Indy in the coming days due to the effects of Rita.
Does Mother Nature have something against the folks on the Gulf Coast?? Two of the most powerful hurricanes ever recorded moving along nearly the same paths within weeks of each other; that's something you don't see every day. Let's cross our fingers and hope a super cold front knocks the wind, no pun intended, out of this nasty storm.

[Anonymous]

Rita now a category 5 Hurricane with 175 mph sustained winds. Has begun turning towards land according to the Weather Channel...

LC

[Anonymous]

UP Hurricane Rita

NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT -- 2005-010
Hurricane Rita - UP Embargoes Stations in Gulf Coast Area
Posted Date: September 21, 2005

The Union Pacific link to the list of embargoed stations is now correct.

In anticipation of Hurricane Rita's landfall along the Texas Gulf Coast, Union Pacific is implementing its Hurricane Preparedness Plan.

Effective immediately, all traffic destined inbound to UP stations from Houston, TX south to Brownsville, TX along the Gulf Coast is embargoed. This includes Dayton, Strang, Angleton, Bloomington and the Galveston area. Also, all intermodal traffic destined to Houston and Englewood is embargoed. For a detailed list of embargoed stations, please see (http://www.uprr.com/customers/embargo/list.shtml or http://embargo.railinc.com). Traffic from those locations will continue to be pulled from industry until approximately noon on Thursday, September 22, at which time all rail operations in the affected area will cease. This embargo notice will be amended tomorrow to cover traffic from the affected area.

Union Pacific is pre-positioning ballast, cribbing ties, generators and other repair materials near the area. Signal masts and road crossing gates are being removed in anticipation of the high winds. Equipment is being moved out of the area to higher ground.

Our employee assistance teams are preparing to assist UP employees impacted by the storm.

Customers are encouraged to secure all rail equipment within their facilities in the impacted area. Handbrakes should be set, hatch covers and outlet gates closed and all loading/unloading hoses disconnected.

We will continue to provide updates as more information is available.

[Anonymous]

To: BNSF Carload Customers

09/21/2005

Weather: Hurricane Rita - Carload


With the impending hurricane in the Gulf expected to make landfall near the Houston and Galveston areas later this week, BNSF is taking appropriate actions to remove equipment from the path of the storm prior to landfall.

Traffic destined to the Galveston and Houston areas will be staged on-line as the week progresses.

Effective September 20, 2005, BNSF placed an embargo on all traffic originating from or destined to the following stations in Texas:

· Bay City
· Beaumont
· Brownsville
· Corpus Christi
· Galveston
· Laredo
· Seadrift
· Texas City
We will continue to update you as conditions change.

If you have questions regarding this information, please contact BNSF Customer Support at 1-888-428-2673, option 2, or send an email to [e-mail].

If you have any questions, please contact BNSF Customer Support at
1-888-428-2673, option 2, or send an email to customerinterface @bnsf.com

[Anonymous]

KCS Prepares for Hurricane Rita, Embargoes Some Stations

In anticipation of Hurricane Rita, KCS is repositioning power and equipment away from several points in Texas including Beaumont, Corpus Christi, Port Arthur and indirectly, Houston. Embargoes are now in effect for traffic to and interchanging at Beaumont, Port Arthur, Port Neches and Chaison, TX. If heavy rains move inland, service may be disrupted to the intermodal facility in Laredo. KCS is watching these areas closely and will advise customers as new information becomes available.

[Anonymous]

CSX Service Alert

Service Bulletin - Hurricane Rita #1
Released: Sep 21, 2005

CSXT's western U.S. rail partners, the Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroads, are issuing embargoes and/or service restrictions in areas projected to be in the path of Hurricane Rita. The storm is expected to begin affecting the Gulf Coast of Texas and possibly Louisiana as early as Thursday, Sept. 22.

CSXT is working closely with UP and BNSF as they implement traffic diversions and other measures to support customers in the projected storm path, including those whose shipments are interchanged with CSXT.

All precautions are being taken to ensure the safety of our employees, customers, and the public with minimum delay to shipments as we continue to monitor the progress of the storm in coordination with our western rail partners.

For more information, customers can call the CSX Customer Service Center at 1-877-ShipCSX (1-877-744-7279).

[Anonymous]

NS Service Alert

New Orleans and Hurricane Rita
September 21, 2005

Floodgates at New Orleans are being closed as a precautionary measure with the advance of Hurricane Rita. As a result, Norfolk Southern has made arrangements in coordination with connection carriers to reroute shipments via alternate gateways. Customers tracking such shipments will note movement via alternate routes and shipments which may encounter longer than normal transit times as a result of the reroutes.

For information on specific shipments, customers are encouraged to contact the Customer Service Operations Center at [phone].

An embargo of shipments from or to stations in the immediate New Orleans area remains in effect.

[Anonymous]

Here we go again. Rita has now reached Category 5. Mandatory evacuations along the Texas and Louisiana coast. Predictions of $5/gal gasoline if major refineries are knocked out. What railroad impacts are being felt?

LC