Western Railroad Discussion > Natural disasters

Even though I am from the eastern part of the U.S., I feel as though this is a question that could have more vivid responses, due to the terrain from those of you in the West.

Do railroads have proto calls, for times that unprecedented natural disasters occur (earthquakes, etc.)? If yes, what do they do?

     Pre planning ? Everybody that has much of a business pre plans for such things.

If there is an earth quake of a size larger than 5.0 in believe they stop all trains and start to inspect the rails and bridges.

From a 2002 UP directive:

In the event of an earthquake of 5 to 7 on the Richter scale, all rail traffic within a 50 mile radius of the epicenter is directed to stop.

BobP Wrote:
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> From a 2002 UP directive:
>
> In the event of an earthquake of 5 to 7 on the
> Richter scale, all rail traffic within a 50 mile
> radius of the epicenter is directed to stop.

If higher than a 7, then kiss your a** goodbye...

Posted from iPhone

There are also warnings put out if there is severe weather such as tornados or high winds ... wildfires can also affect railroad operations ... flash flooding warnings are especially important ... both the UP and BNSF were running under special rules during the September 2013 flooding event along the Front Range corridor in Colorado ... both the BNSF mainline from Denver to Cheyenne as well as the UP mainline from Denver through Greeley to Cheyenne and the joint Moffat Route from Denver to Grand Junction (UP & BNSF) were impacted for at least a week ... AmTrack also was rerouted

Odyssey
Evergreen, CO

Santa Fe used to keep a stock of girder bridges at the west end of "A" Yard in San Bernardino.  Presumably they could be loaded up and sent to a location where the need for a bridge arose suddenly.

Here's a photo that probably belongs in the "Nostalgia & History" section.  Back in 1938, the Pacific Electric bridge across the San Gabriel river was washed out when the river was filled by storms in the mountains above Azusa.  Although the bridge was of concrete arch construction, PE filled the washed-out section with steel girders, which are still there, although the railway was abandoned in 1961.  The fencing is a fairly recent addition with the bridge now part of a hiking trail.

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Hi. AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions provides track-specific (i.e., milepost to milepost) storm warning services for all of the U.S. Class ones and most of the short lines. There are many case histories, from as recently as last week, here: https://enterprisesolutions.accuweather.com/success-stories

Mike Smith of Accuweather ,also known as Kansas1, is very good in his job. Very accurate. upkpfan