Western Railroad Discussion > UP expects bridge repairs at Tempe by late next week

Tempe Bridge Update - Embargo In Effect
Announcement Number: CN2020-31
Categories: General Announcements
Posted Date: August 5, 2020
To Our Customers,

We continue to make progress in restoring service to the bridge over Tempe Town Lake that is impacting rail operations between Tempe and Arlington, Arizona.

While we have been able to reroute some trains to provide service to the affected area, we are encountering a backlog of traffic requiring the issuance of an embargo. Please see the AAR embargo page for additional details on affected shipments.

For those shipments already in route, customers should continue to expect a minimum of 72 hours of additional transit time as trains are rerouted. In some cases, the delay could be up to five days or more due to our current backlog of traffic and the volume of industries in this large metropolitan area.

Our Engineering and Operating teams have been working around the clock. All debris and damaged rail equipment have been removed and repairs to the bridge are well underway. We are currently anticipating reopening the bridge the end of next week. To assist in working off the backlog, we also plan to stage inbound trains at strategic locations to expedite delivery to customers once the bridge has reopened.

-Union Pacific



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/20 09:34 by GenePoon.

How do they "re-route" without the line in service west of Phoenix?  Via BNSF or A&C?

Stan Praisewater

sagehen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How do they "re-route" without the line in service
> west of Phoenix?  Via BNSF or A&C?
>
> Stan Praisewater

I believe both have been used. Competing railroads are very helpful in circumstances such as this because they know that next time one of them may be making the phone call.

Reroutes have been over BNSF, two were called for the A&C but anulled and sent over BNSF. West reroutes run from Phoenix to Winslow
(or Diable) and then West To Daggett. Reroutes from the East come through Belen and into soemwhere near Winslow for staging. Reroutes
from the West come out of Yermo, run to Daggett where the power is swapped end for end and the train run East to Winslow. It is then run
back West and down the Phoenix Sub to Phoenix. You can see the transit time issues mentioned in the UP announcement.

Out 

Is the line west of Phoenix still OOS?

Yesterday evening I saw a solid Auto Rack train led by UP 8717 headed west through Goodyear.  Are they just pushing these cars down the line to store for right now?

callum_out Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Reroutes have been over BNSF, two were called for
> the A&C but anulled and sent over BNSF. West
> reroutes run from Phoenix to Winslow
> (or Diable) and then West To Daggett. Reroutes
> from the East come through Belen and into
> soemwhere near Winslow for staging. Reroutes
> from the West come out of Yermo, run to Daggett
> where the power is swapped end for end and the
> train run East to Winslow. It is then run
> back West and down the Phoenix Sub to Phoenix. You
> can see the transit time issues mentioned in the
> UP announcement.
>
> Out 
Reroutes from the East come through Belen ...
Via the Horny Toad line from El Paso or on the Transcon from Dallas? Is the interchange at Vaughn being used for UP/BNSF transfer?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/20 10:30 by Cumbresfan.

So far, there have only been 3 UP detours from the East to Phoenix across BNSF Transcon.  All have been interchanged at Vaughn.

Ted Ferkenhoff
Flagstaff, AZ

tferk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So far, there have only been 3 UP detours from the
> East to Phoenix across BNSF Transcon.  All have
> been interchanged at Vaughn.

Interesting. That requires a reverse move up the interchange track to the Transcon. Doesn't sound like a big deal if there is a east facing DPU at the end of the UP train.

callum_out Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Reroutes have been over BNSF, two were called for
> the A&C but anulled and sent over BNSF. West
> reroutes run from Phoenix to Winslow
> (or Diable) and then West To Daggett. Reroutes
> from the East come through Belen and into
> soemwhere near Winslow for staging. Reroutes
> from the West come out of Yermo, run to Daggett
> where the power is swapped end for end and the
> train run East to Winslow. It is then run
> back West and down the Phoenix Sub to Phoenix. You
> can see the transit time issues mentioned in the
> UP announcement.
>
> Out 

1 UP detour did indeed run via the A&C. Photo's were on Facebook.

Even facing an embargo, UP has decided not to use the line west of Phoenix as a reroute.  Could it be that there are just too many cars stored on the line....google shows many hundreds of cars stored there, and apparently they have added more in the last few days. I suppose there is not a place within a reasonable distance to move these stored cars to, unless it would be the old Southwestern line south of Benson, or the old line to Ajo south of Gila Bend. Looks like customers will have to wait a few weeks for things to get back to normal.

BeaumontHill Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> callum_out Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Reroutes have been over BNSF, two were called
> for
> > the A&C but anulled and sent over BNSF. West
> > reroutes run from to Winslow
> > (or Diable) and then West To Daggett. Reroutes
> > from the East come through Belen and into
> > soemwhere near Winslow for staging. Reroutes
> > from the West come out of Yermo, run to Daggett
> > where the power is swapped end for end and the
> > train run East to Winslow. It is then run
> > back West and down the Sub to .
> You
> > can see the transit time issues mentioned in
> the
> > UP announcement.
> >
> > Out 
>
> 1 UP detour did indeed run via the A&C. Photo's
> were on Facebook.

Classic example of why the Class I's need to stay in good standing with the shortlines that they connect with! Like the old saying "Be careful of the toes you step on TODAY as they might be connected to the ass you'll have to kiss TOMORROW" !

Dick Samuels
O P R



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/20 19:56 by EMDSW-1.

Anyone taking pictures of the bridge repairs?

Scratch the old line to Ajo...the connection has been severed...I am surprised the rail has not been salvaged....there is a lot of rail there.

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Anyone taking pictures of the bridge repairs?

There are some photos posted on our site, located here on Page #2:
https://www.railfanaz.com/index.php/topic,5523.0.html
 

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/06/20 21:17 by RailFanAZ.

RailFanAZ Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> There are some photos posted on our site, located
> here on Page #2:
> https://www.railfanaz.com/index.php/topic,5523.0.html
>  

Thanks.

Looking good! UP is fortunate that it did not lose another through truss span. Looks like it has a good trestle replacement system.

Won't be long now!

It's about 11:25PM Thursday night. I live not too far from the UP line through Gilbert AZ. Heard a train blowing its horn as I have a thousand times so I didn't think anything about it. Then I remembered the bridge and said out loud "Wait a minute!".
I wonder what it was and which direction it was rolling!
 

just saw a w/b 2x3 u.p. manifest on the flagstaff cam at 0617 hrs..............

66 

jtbrandt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's about 11:25PM Thursday night. I live not too
> far from the UP line through Gilbert AZ. Heard a
> train blowing its horn as I have a thousand times
> so I didn't think anything about it. Then I
> remembered the bridge and said out loud "Wait a
> minute!".
> I wonder what it was and which direction it was
> rolling!
>  

Listening to the Online Audio Feed, it is the MTUPX that is working daily along the line.  It works Red Rock (If needed), Picacho (If needed), then heads up the Phoenix Sub.  The goes through and works any other areas needed: Coolidge, Magma Jct to Mesa.  Once done, they head back to Tucson as the MTUPX (symbol stays the same for the return trip).  There has been MoW trains as well going through as they are adding a spur in Mesa to a business out there.

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com

I forgot to mention, the MTUPX/MPXTU took over the duties of the Magma Local when UP abolished the Magma Local.

SouthWest RailCams
CA, NM, CO, TX, AZ
https://SouthWestRailCams.com

Found a day-by-day AZ Central/AZ Republic chronical of the cleanup at the location. It starts the morning of the wreck (Wednesday, July 29) and goes through Monday August 3. Video I haven't seen elsewhere including slow motion shots of the demolition of the fire-warped south span (Copy and paste required):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHj3qS0W7Ko

Link to news story:
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2020/08/04/tempe-railroad-bridge-rebuild/5576074002/



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/20 13:50 by Cumbresfan.