Amtrak, freight railroads continue service suspensions due to flooding

Severe weather, heavy rain and historic flooding conditions continue to affect freight and passenger railroads' operations in parts of the U.S. South, Central Plains and Midwest regions.

Amtrak announced late last week that it has cancelled its Texas Eagle trains between St. Louis and Fort Worth, Texas, through June 7 due to flooding conditions on Union Pacific Railroad's network.

Flooding issues on UP's network has resulted in diverted freight traffic, which led to Amtrak's temporary suspension of Texas Eagle service on certain routes that normally operate daily between Chicago and San Antonio, Texas, via Little Rock, Arkansas, and Dallas, Amtrak officials said in a customer service alert.

Amtrak today announced that temporary service suspension remains in effect for Amtrak's Missouri River Runner service between Kansas City, Missouri and St. Louis.

UP issued a customer service alert on May 31 that stated heavy rain and flooding continued to affect freight operations in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas.

The Class I updated its Flood Planning and Recovery webpage, including outage maps. UP also posted an article on its website detailing its flood recovery efforts in Nebraska, where a mix of snow and rain from a March storm resulted in flooding that destroyed UP rail lines and bridges in the state.
 
Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern Railway also continues to experience service interruptions due to flooding of the Mississippi and Grand rivers, affecting traffic between Decatur, Illinois, and Kansas City, Missouri, according to a customer service alert.

Freight and passenger railroads have been dealing with flooding and severe weather in parts of the Midwest, Central Plains and South throughout late winter and spring 2019.