BNSF Colorado Derailment: possible delays for CZ in next day or 2

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eblkheart

eblkheart

Service Attendant
Joined
Jul 30, 2013
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124
There was a BNSF Coal train derailment this morning on the Brush Sub today (way east of Denver). Major one. Reports are saying 27 cars of the 120 lost cargo due to a possible broken wheel. There is also significant track damage I am seeing from pics being posted via the local train groups, it's pretty bad. A signal was also ripped out of the ground as well. Just a heads up in case since this will be causing delays for the next 12-24 hours.

Local News report: http://www.9news.com/story/news/2015/03/22/train-derails-in-weld-county/25181437/

Another story: http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_27763975/coal-train-derails-near-hudson-no-injuries
 
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Rare mileage opportunity on the CZ?

Sloan said the railway has a number of options until the tracks are cleared, including sending trains through Cheyenne, Wyoming.
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KmH said:
I wonder if BNSF Railway Co. spokesman Joe Sloan was referring to freight trains.
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Probably, which is why I put the question mark in my post. I don't know what Amtrak will do. Perhaps bus passengers between Denver and Fort Morgan, assuming the derailment is between those two stops.
 
the #6 that left California yesterday is shown as "service disruption" on the Amtrak website. Possibly rerouted via the UP?
 
Just an update, they are saying on the local news, possible 3 day closure. Plan accordingly.
 
As someone with a ticket for the #5 CZ leaving Chicago on Tuesday, what are the possible options for Amtrak? Bus around, detour, cancel? I know it's just a guess at this point, but I'm interested in what has happened in the past for service disruptions of this nature on LD trains?

Thanks,

Brian
 
actionuiuc said:
As someone with a ticket for the #5 CZ leaving Chicago on Tuesday, what are the possible options for Amtrak? Bus around, detour, cancel? I know it's just a guess at this point, but I'm interested in what has happened in the past for service disruptions of this nature on LD trains?

Thanks,

Brian
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See post #5 above. Looks like they're rerouting the trains between OMA and DEN. You'll get to see rare rail milage. :)
 
actionuiuc said:
As someone with a ticket for the #5 CZ leaving Chicago on Tuesday, what are the possible options for Amtrak? Bus around, detour, cancel? I know it's just a guess at this point, but I'm interested in what has happened in the past for service disruptions of this nature on LD trains?

Thanks,

Brian
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Usually detour, assuming you're not getting off between OMA and DEN. You'll probably be delayed a few hours because of it (not always true, but as a general rule detours cause delays.)
 
If via North Platte on the UP, plan on 8 hours or more delay...
 
ColoradoRailfan.com posted some amazing pictures of the derailment. Take a look here:

http://www.coloradorailfan.com/gallery/gallery.asp?on=20150322

Excerpt of the photographers post:

[SIZE=12pt]"Mid-morning this morning found a westbound coal train derailing at the west switch of Hudson. From what I heard on the scanner, the current suspect is a broken wheel. Crews said they found a chunk of the broken wheel away from the derailment. Fortunately, there were no reported injuries.

"25-30 loaded cars derailed and piled up. The derailment took out the switch and signal at the west end of Hudson." [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=12pt]"The train broke apart in to three pieces. The front third appeared to stay all on the tracks. The second third had a few cars on the ground, but all stayed upright. The final third had the most c ars on the ground, along with multiple cars badly piled up."

"I'm no expert at all, but based on what I saw...and based on the fact that the derailment took out a switch and signal...it seems like it would be at least 12 hours before the line is open again."[/SIZE]
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Ha!

As far as the goldenspiketower.com web sit is concerned, passenger trains ceased to exist in 1971.

End Of An Era

Passenger rail service was discontinued in 1971 after operating for some 105 years. Gone are the days of Pullman sleeping cars, dining cars, lounges and coaches. The romance and luxury of passenger trains was done in by automobiles and air travel.
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Too bad the former UP line between Union and LaSalle is gone...the Zephyr could have used that and not missed any stops. It was used many times by the Zephyr in past disruptions....
 
The two Amtrak trains passed each other west of N. Platte, NE about an hour ago on the UP. This piece of railroad is two-track CTC, so hopefully they'll make good time.
 
I don't see 5 or 6 on Amtrak's track on train on the UP in Nebraska right now. i wonder if there is a UP locomotive on the lead that the GPS tracker shuts down in the lead Amtrak unit? In the past I've seen Amtrak on track a train during detours on the Empire Builder route.
 
As of 09:40pm CDT, Track-a-Train shows that CZ 6(22) is on the normal route this evening. Considering the pictures, that's really quick work.
 
They did say 2-3 days. BNSF is REAL quick about this stuff, but considering the damage I saw in the pictures (posted on page 1), I am surprised they are fixing it so quick.
 
Most of the time RJ Corman brings in heavy equipment and has the mainline open in one day. A big bulldozer is used to push the cars out of the way.
 
Several weeks ago I watched a video of RJ Corman clearing a derailment.

They get right to it by having equipment pre-located in strategic places around the country.
 
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