FORT WORTH, Texas – BNSF Railway says it’s working to clear a backlog of traffic on its busy Southern Transcon route linking Southern California and Chicago after a series of extreme weather events and a derailment.
The weather included record high temperatures around 120 degrees and high winds on the western end of the Transcon, and tornado warnings and lightning that forced temporary shutdowns at Chicago-area intermodal terminals.
In areas affected by the record high temperatures, BNSF reduced train speeds, stepped up inspections, and had to make track repairs in some areas, the railroad said in a service advisory on Tuesday.
BNSF also experienced a June 14 derailment at Marmon, N.M., some 60 miles west of Belen, that shut down both main trains for 24 hours, delaying trains on the busiest section of the Transcon.
“The combination of this derailment and the extreme weather created resource imbalances along this busy corridor from California into New Mexico,” BNSF says. “While we are making progress in resolving these issues, including the deployment of additional locomotives to the region, customers should expect lingering delays during the next few days until operations have fully normalized.”
Meanwhile, the railroad is monitoring the Rafael wildfire 20 miles southwest of Flagstaff, Ariz.. “The fire is currently not considered a threat to the Transcon but conditions in the region remain conducive for additional wildfires,” the service advisory says.
At the eastern end of the Transcon, BNSF’s four intermodal terminals — Corwith, Cicero, Willow Springs, and Logistics Park Chicago — have been bursting at the seams. Record volume, combined with chassis and container return times that are running as much as 48 hours longer than usual due to supply chain disruptions, has created a logjam in the terminals.
With terminals plugged due to elevated dwell times and labor shortages, BNSF has been forced to stage inbound trains in sidings, sometimes for days, to await space for unloading.
Severe weather compounded delays. “Multiple tornado warnings and lightning in the area caused several work stoppages Sunday afternoon and into the overnight hours,” BNSF says.
“To support recovery efforts, customers are encouraged to prioritize the pick-up of units that have been unloaded at these facilities,” the railroad says. “Prompt pick-up will help improve traffic flows, reduce lot congestion, and provide the space needed for processing inbound shipments as quickly as possible.”
I believe that one of the greatest impediments for BNSF to make better use of the Raton Pass line is simply the lack of CTC on the line. There are (or were) two short stretches of CTC but most of the line does not have it.
If the states and Amtrak were to improve the line, lengthen sidings and install CTC/PTC, I suspect that BNSF might take a second look at it.
I understand that a large coal mine west of Trinidad has reopened. Coal might save the line for a time although these new coal loads go east – not west.
In March of 2022 I rode over the line on the SW Chief. Herzog was doing some track work in the Lamy area. Also, much of the line east of La Junta has been improved in recent years with much of the jointed rail giving way to CWR.
Regards,
Fred M Cain
I took the SW Chief to Flagstaff from IL last week and can personally attest to the congestion that BNSF is dealing with. The Chief’s on-time performance has been getting battered the last two weeks; we were 2 1/2 hours late into Flagstaff and 6 hours late on the return trip to IL, and it’s all because of dealing with the Transcon issues west of Albuquerque. Considering that the Chief is historically one of the better on-time performers amongst the long-distance trains, it clearly shows what BNSF is dealing with right now (when in Flagstaff I saw a train almost every time I could see the tracks, even if it was only for a few minutes).
I would have to agree that BNSF using the Raton line would not be helping here; the problems are on the Transcon west of Belen and in the terminals. We’ll see when BNSF is able to clear up the congestion; they’ve been good at recoveries in the past.
This really getting bothersome. There are typos in EVERY online article, it seems. I seriously doubt JDI would have allowed such sloppiness.
This is why it would help BNSF to have enough crews (and for westbounds at least a few helpers) at La Junta and Albuquerque to very occasionally still be able to send trains over the (largely rebuilt and otherwise all-Amtrak/Rail Runner) Raton Pass line. This lesson had to be relearned with respect to Stampede Pass on the former NP. Those who forget history–etc. And the irony here is that BNSF put millions of their own money into the “Amtrak on Raton” upgrades. Of course this was mostly to avoid pressure to run the SW CHIEF via Amarillo–but there are always the things you could and should for-see.
BNSF can easily detour traffic on UP. They wouldn’t send trains via Raton which would need helpers and tie up capacity even further..
Are you suggesting the former Hilden State/Sunset route. At least west of El Paso that is awash in traffic. The Overland Route does have some capacity—if traffic was sent east of Salt Lake using BNSF rights on the former Rio Grande, but that is a long way from Belin to Newton.
Yes the sunset route via Topeka, KS. The congestion stated in this article is actually terminal congestion. Not line capacity issues. All IM ramps are jammed right now which means nothing is getting lifted within 24hrs.. Trains are parked waiting for terminal congestion to clear up.
Some years ago I was photographing AMTK 3+4 at Lamy. BNSF was doing trackwork at Mountainair (Summit E. of Belen) and transcon was out of service for several hours. There was an Eastbound freight at Lamy which was held in the siding for both Amtrakers.
In this case the wreck was at Marmon NM which is West of Dailies, the junction between the Abo (via Amarillo) and Raton (via La Junta) Pass lines so detouring via La Junta was not an option.