Rapidly warming temperatures in the past two weeks have led to significant snow melt, that when combined with recent rains, have inundated river and their tributaries throughout the Great Plains.
BNSF reports that much of its mainline trackage in South Dakota is out of service, along with its main line from Alliance to Omaha, Neb.
Union Pacific specifically calls out service disruptions on its Omaha, Blair, Columbus, Lincoln, and Falls City subdivision, mostly near the Missouri River in Iowa and Nebraska. A full UP embargoed line list is online.
The National Weather Service has extended flood warnings for Omaha through March 23; though Monday for Lincoln, Neb. Elsewhere, the weather service has posted flood warnings for St. Louis, on the Mississippi River until further notice; for Cedar Rapids, Iowa, until March 23; and Memphis through March 31.
California Zephyr left Chicago on the UP former C&NW line through West Chicago Thursday, March 21, due to the flooding in Nebraska. Seeing Amtrak in Oak Park was a “puzzle” until identifying its destination. The unsuspecting observer might have wondered if the Minneapolis train had made a wrong turn through the puzzles of the key A-2 Interlocking in Chicago.
There must be more going on than reported here because more than usual empty coal trains are parked in south Denver instead of going north. This map shows east of Alliance closed while there are two additional routes into Powder River Basin without going north to Alliance and then west. There was also a double stack parked for three days in south Denver which normally would go Cheyenne and Casper to get to Livingston? So has flooding of the North Platte closed the Bridge Port crossing and the line up to Orin Jct?
I just got a chance to look today and both the UP and BNSF bridges over the Platte River just north of Oreapolis NE have spans dropped into the river.
The BNSF mainline west of Oreapolis to Ashland may open soon.