Union Pacific and BNSF Railway shut down their operations in the Houston area Sunday in preparation for Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall today (Monday, July 8) as a Category 1 storm.
Beryl, which was downgraded to a tropical storm this morning, came ashore at Matagorda, Texas, about 90 miles southwest of Houston. Beryl is expected to dump 5 to 10 inches of rain or more in the Houston area and in Eastern Texas as it moves inland.
Union Pacific, in a customer advisory issued on Sunday, said it would suspend operations from Sunday evening through Monday evening.
“We are making preparations along our network to respond quickly to potential outages,” the railroad said. Among the preparations: Staging track repair materials, diesel fuel, and supplemental transportation for train crews; securing grade crossing gates; positioning water pumps at strategic locations; and establishing a command center.
BNSF, in a customer advisory issued on Sunday, said it had begun restricting operations in its Houston complex, which spans 60 square miles and includes five yards. BNSF also shut down its intermodal terminal in Pearland, Texas.
On Sunday afternoon BNSF stopped operating trains south of Temple and Teague on the Galveston and Houston subdivisions as well as on the Houston Belt & Terminal.
BNSF expected the closures to remain in place until at least noon Central time today.
“We have activated an around-the-clock command center, and our operating teams have pre-positioned track equipment and supplies, including fuel cells, generators and ballast, at various locations to quickly address any impacts to the network as power outages and flooding are expected,” the railroad said.
Amtrak today canceled the Sunset Limited in both directions between New Orleans and San Antonio, Texas.
The cancellation affects westbound train No. 1, which was scheduled to depart New Orleans today. It will instead originate at San Antonio. Train No. 2, which departed Los Angeles on Sunday, will terminate at San Antonio as a precaution, Amtrak said.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City, which operates through the Houston area on UP trackage rights as well as on its own rails between Rosenberg and Victoria, Texas, said in a customer advisory on Sunday that it would shut down operations through Monday in line with UP’s shutdown.
“The safety of our employees, customer shipments and the communities we serve and operate in are our priority. We will continue to proactively monitor the storm and will notify our customers of any new developments or impacts to our network or services,” CPKC said.
