Passenger Trains > Rosenberg, TX: there goes AMTK #2, and here it comes back!

Anybody watching the Amtrak map on the Transitdocs website this evening can find that the eastbound Sunset Limited arrived at Beaumont, TX 8 hours and 41 minutes late. The delay stems from a train/18-wheeler collision in Sugar Land west of Houston on Union Pacific's Glidden Sub this morning; a diesel spill was involved, and the Glidden Sub was closed for hours as a result.  Amtrak put out an alert at 12:29 CDT that Amtrak #2 was stopped west of Houston at 11:23 "due to disabled freight blocking the tracks," but #2 had yet to pass the Rosenberg cam at 11:23.  At 11:52, #2 passed the Rosenberg cam going east; it only got as far as the east end of Harlem siding, about seven miles from Rosenberg.  Eventually, the decision was made to send #2 back to Rosenberg and use the BNSF Galveston and Mykawa Subs as an alternate route to Houston.  At 3:06 PM, with a conductor standing at the rear doorway, #2 came backing past the Rosenberg cam.  Shortly thereafter, #2 was on BNSF rails, and at 3:20 PM made its third appearance on the Rosenberg cam as it headed for Alvin.  #2 reached Tower 26 in Houston at 5:21 PM, but Amtrak shows #2 arriving at the depot at 7:56 PM.  I do not know what accounted for the 2:30 hour trip between Tower 26 and the depot that should have taken about 20 minutes.

Matthew

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Another mess indeed, but Amtrak, the UP, and BNSF are to be commended for this detour solution.  It is rare these days, and it was a slow move, but the train got through!

Good to see that it was re-routed instead of bustituted
as is usually the case.

I was on 90 on the way to the Rosenberg Railroad Museum (apparently that is where you took the pictures) and when I got to Eldridge Road, there was an electronic sign saying all the grade crossings were closed to Highway 6.  Thought there was some construction.  But when I saw a single UP pusher sitting in front of the old sugar factory, I realized it was a stopped train, likely a grade crossing accident.  The westbound train was over 2 miles long with helpers in the middle.  I took some video of the actual accident scene as I passed by but it didn't turn out well.  i attached a still shot I grabbed from the video. Apparently that dump truck in the photo was being carried on the 18 wheeler.  The locomotives were all the way to the entrance of New Territory, so if you know the area, you can see how this was a huge disruption! 

I also got a video of Train #2 slowing down to stop at the Harlem Road siding, and wondered at the time if the second track there was clear.  It was not.

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