advertisement

---

In July, Union Pacific Railroad loaded 952 coal trains in the Southern Powder River Basin (SPRB), a 16 percent increase from June’s total and the strongest monthly volume since January, UP officials said in a weekly coal loading performance report. But July’s total fell short of the 1,036 trains loaded in the SPRB in July 2011.

In the Colorado/Utah Region, the Class I loaded 243 coal trains in July, the highest monthly total so far in 2012, UP officials said in the report. In July 2011, the railroad loaded 214 trains in the region.

A couple of recent accidents impacted coal traffic in the Colorado/Utah Region. On July 29, 27 coal cars derailed in Brookville, Kan., about 14 miles west of Salina. The derailment interrupted the flow of loaded and empty coal trains moving east from Colorado and Utah, UP officials said. The derailment was cleared and track was back in service the next day.

In addition, eight cars from a manifest train derailed Aug. 4 in a tunnel near Richmond, Nev., blocking a route from Utah to southern Nevada and southern California.