Slides, Washouts Disrupting Rail Service
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Record-high water, slides and washouts have closed hundreds of miles of track in the upper Midwest, forcing freight railroads and Amtrak to devise a crazy quilt of detours.
Most train traffic continued to move Wednesday but often with major delays.
Predictably, railroads along rivers or valleys were out of service as the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries continued rising, whereas those along high ground were open and far busier than usual with traffic of other railroads.
“Tributaries you never heard of are suddenly out of their banks,” said John Bromley, a spokesman for Union Pacific Railroad.
Amtrak has canceled service between St. Louis and Kansas City and rerouted its train between Chicago and Oakland. The California Zephyr will switch from its usual Burlington Northern route across southern Iowa to the Chicago & North Western route further north.
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