Poplar Bluff, Mo

[ACVitale]

Seeing the news today and realizing that Poplar Buff, Mo has several rail lines that run thru the area that is expected to be affected by the dam/levee failure will Amtrak be affected?

Apparently, Mandatory evacuations are taking place for the towns 17,000 residents as the levee/dam failure is imminent

Some media links...

http://www.reuters.c...E73O4JJ20110425

The link to the Poplar Bluff Police Department Twitter has limited information

http://twitter.com/#!/pbpd

And I could not get detail on the Amtrak route map to determine how near/far the line through South Missouri runs.

Between the St. Louis Airport Area and this it seems the fine folks in Missouri are really having a rough time. My thoughts and prayers to them.

Not sure if the Amtrak line runs through or near that area.

Anyone know?

Edited as apparently had a bad link. New link added

 

[MrFSS]

Seeing the news today and realizing that Poplar Buff, Mo has several rail lines that run thru the area that is expected to be affected by the dam/levee failure will Amtrak be affected?

Apparently, Mandatory evacuations are taking place for the towns 17,000 residents as the levee/dam failure is imminent

Some media links...

Bad LINK - Removed

The link to the Poplar Bluff Police Department Twitter has limited information

http://twitter.com/#!/pbpd

And I could not get detail on the Amtrak route map to determine how near/far the line through South Missouri runs.

Between the St. Louis Airport Area and this it seems the fine folks in Missouri are really having a rough time. My thoughts and prayers to them.

Not sure if the Amtrak line runs through or near that area.

Anyone know?

The LINK to the Fox news story went to something in Florida with alligators in someone's home. When you can find the correct link - please repost it.

 

[City of Miami]

According to CNN: The weather service said the southeastern portion of the city would be inundated if the levee fails.

According to Goggle Maps the Amtrak station (and all the track) is on the north side of the river, but very close.

Something up there is consistently causing major problems for the Texas Eagle lately; I don't know if it is only the track work north of St. Louis or not.

 

[ACVitale]

I thought the same until I double checked.

Apparently according to the media the levee is going to fail near the river and hwy 607. It looks like the tracks on the southern side of town will soon be underwater. Likely to expect bus-titution or a deviation

Also according to the media. Folks on the North side and West side are being advised to be prepared to evacuate if the water levels continue to rise. They are expecting more rain today.

Edit: More information

http://stlouis.cbslo...ee-compromised/

Apparently the tracks MAY be affected but, as City of Miami mentioned they are just outside the breach evacuation zone.

Further Edit:

Apparently the Texas Eagle picked up a 2-3 hr delay in each direction between Poplar Bluff and St Louis.

Is this related to the weather/flooding?

According to CNN: The weather service said the southeastern portion of the city would be inundated if the levee fails.

According to Goggle Maps the Amtrak station (and all the track) is on the north side of the river, but very close.

Something up there is consistently causing major problems for the Texas Eagle lately; I don't know if it is only the track work north of St. Louis or not.

 

[Grandpa D]

The local news/talk radio station, KWOC, has some info plus all the road closing in SE Missouri. I looked up a few on Google Maps; some of those roads are quite close to the Amtrak route.

[Edit:] Another handy resource is the MODOT interactive map. It has a graphic display of that road closing that ACVitale mentions below. The road crosses the UP tracks.

 

[ACVitale]

Cape Girardeau Airport is closed as of Monday AM due to water over the runways.

Looking at the Map from Grandpa D it would appear that the roads North of Poplar Bluff are close as well as some to the east and the south.

I would not be surprised with todays rains if the rail may be at risk North of Poplar Bluff as well.

It would explain the many delays of 2-3 hrs last night incurred by 21 and 22.

 

[George Harris]

Maybe they need to make a right turn at Bald Knob, Arkansas, go to Memphis and finish on the route of the City of New Orleans.

 

[Trogdor]

Maybe they need to make a right turn at Bald Knob, Arkansas, go to Memphis and finish on the route of the City of New Orleans.

Except that the City of New Orleans route is flooded between Memphis and Carbondale.

 

[henryj]

And Amtrak wants to make the Texas Eagle the primary train on the Sunset route. It has flooding problems every year and winter snow problems every year. Meanwhile the real Sunset just continues to run reliably every day. I believe they need to rethink their plans on this route. Make the NOL to LA train daily and continue to exchange a coach and sleeper with the Eagle at SAS.

 

[coronado]

I had reservations out of Dallas tomorrow (Wednesday April 27) on 421 to Los Angeles. Amtrak called me this morning and said train would be cancelled, no alternate transportation provided.

 

[the_traveler]

HERE'S a Google map of the area. (I can't get it to work. Insert "Poplar Bluff, MO" - then set the scale about 1/3 of the way up!) The train station is just below the "A". Ditch Road (aka Hwy WW) is just to the left. The tracks are near the river. Unless there is a detour route, or a bustitition, I expect a suspension of service!

 

[George Harris]

Maybe they need to make a right turn at Bald Knob, Arkansas, go to Memphis and finish on the route of the City of New Orleans.

Except that the City of New Orleans route is flooded between Memphis and Carbondale.

Where, exactly? Would suspect to be somewhere near Cairo IL.

 

[Trogdor]

I had reservations out of Dallas tomorrow (Wednesday April 27) on 421 to Los Angeles. Amtrak called me this morning and said train would be cancelled, no alternate transportation provided.

The train should be running from Fort Worth. See if they can rebook you from there, and then take TRE or something from DAL to Fort Worth.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I had reservations out of Dallas tomorrow (Wednesday April 27) on 421 to Los Angeles. Amtrak called me this morning and said train would be cancelled, no alternate transportation provided.

Im surprised, they usually Bustitute between FTW-SAS when there is no #21/#22 coming through from CHI/SAS. Of course without the #421 Sleeper and Coach the Sunset #1 is Probably SOLD OUT, these Trains are very Popular Lately resulting in High Buckets and Sell Outs!

Several of us are hoping the Flooding goes away by Next week as we are Riding #22 to CHI to Catch the Cardinal to WAS for NTD!! Todays #22 is 9 Hours Down out of LRK and #21 Probably will be Turned in FTW IF it EVER gets there??? Good Luck, try to Re-Book through Amtrak IF you can, if it helps yesterdays Flights out of Austin to DFW and CHI (ORD) were Cancelled due to Severe Weather up that way, Today it's a Mess @ the Austin Airport! :help:

 

[coronado]

I had reservations out of Dallas tomorrow (Wednesday April 27) on 421 to Los Angeles. Amtrak called me this morning and said train would be cancelled, no alternate transportation provided.

The train should be running from Fort Worth. See if they can rebook you from there, and then take TRE or something from DAL to Fort Worth.

Trogdor, many thanks, you are exactly right! Wednesday's train 22 will turn at Fort Worth to become 21/421.

 

[ACVitale]

The Levees failed in 4 places in Poplar Bluff and the rails are now confirmed under water.

Additionally, There is a levee North of Poplar Bluff that is expected to fail today that will also affect the rail.

They got 5 inches yesterday evening which overwhelmed everything.

I am assuming that 21/22 made it through last night.

I agree with the comments on the SSL vs the TE. Need to keep the SSL in place from NOL. I do not think the schedule change is a bad idea, I kinda like it but, keep the NOL equipment in place. Additionally, Seems NOL actually does maintanence on the equipment vs CUS

 

[Trogdor]

Yeah, because there have never been any weather disruptions in NOL affecting the Sunset Limited.

 

[ACVitale]

Not going to disagree but, the SSL/TE from SAS would certainly have a better chance of completing journeys with equipment originating at both CUS and NOL. Kinda doubles the number of incidents/disasters required to cause a "service disruption" on the line from the eastbound perspective.....

Yeah, because there have never been any weather disruptions in NOL affecting the Sunset Limited.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Yeah, because there have never been any weather disruptions in NOL affecting the Sunset Limited.

Nice. :lol:

 

[the_traveler]

Yeah, because there have never been any weather disruptions in NOL affecting the Sunset Limited.

NEVER?

Did the SL operate on a regular schedule before, during and after Katrina?

I remember many other days when service was cancelled due to hurricanes or possible hurricanes having landfall between NOL and HOS. And isn't the SL "temporarily suspended" east of NOL to FL since Katrina?

Or do those not count towards "never been any weather disruptions"?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Yeah, because there have never been any weather disruptions in NOL affecting the Sunset Limited.

NEVER?

Did the SL operate on a regular schedule before, during and after Katrina?

I remember many other days when service was cancelled due to hurricanes or possible hurricanes having landfall between NOL and HOS. And isn't the SL "temporarily suspended" east of NOL to FL since Katrina?

Or do those not count towards "never been any weather disruptions"?

 

[Grandpa D]

Yeah, because there have never been any weather disruptions in NOL affecting the Sunset Limited.

Satire is very difficult to write in a web forum.

Most people won't get it.

 

[henryj]

Yeah, because there have never been any weather disruptions in NOL affecting the Sunset Limited.

NEVER?

Did the SL operate on a regular schedule before, during and after Katrina?

I remember many other days when service was cancelled due to hurricanes or possible hurricanes having landfall between NOL and HOS. And isn't the SL "temporarily suspended" east of NOL to FL since Katrina?

Or do those not count towards "never been any weather disruptions"?

A hurricane once every 20 years is not the same as spring flooding every year and winter blizzards every year. Like I said, they sould keep the Sunset between NOL and LA as the primary train on this route. The Eagle is often suspended south of Ft Worth for various reasons. The Sunset is rarely suspended for any reason. East of NOL CSX is downgrading that track to local traffic so those who keep bringing up service to Florida can just forget it because it isn't ever coming back. The Sunset Limited has been running NOL to California for over 100 years. The NOL to Florida was an Amtrak experiment that just didn't work out, like may others.

 

[Trogdor]

If the Eagle can't get south of Fort Worth to San Antonio, then it means it also can't get north of San Antonio to Forth Worth, which means the eastbound turns to the westbound in San Antonio (or Forth Worth, in the case of today's train).

There are hurricane disruptions on the Sunset route every year as well (with the train often terminating in Houston, or even, gee, San Antonio).

That the Sunset has been running for 100 years means nothing, in the grand scheme of things.

 

[henryj]

There are hurricane disruptions on the Sunset route every year as well (with the train often terminating in Houston, or even, gee, San Antonio).

Really? Show me the proof of this. I live in Houston by the way.