Railroad service disruption having minimal effect in LV

Kevin Rademacher

Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2005 | 10:50 a.m.

Las Vegas Valley businesses said the loss of rail service is having little -- if any -- impact on their operations, especially if service is restored next week as predicted on Tuesday by Union Pacific Corp. executives.

The railroad operator has released a statement saying that the line between Salt Lake City, Las Vegas and Los Angeles will be ready for partial service "as soon as Monday." The line averages 25 trains per day and is one of the two primary routes linking Los Angeles -- and Las Vegas -- and the Midwest.

Flooding last week damaged an 80-mile stretch of track near the Utah border. The heaviest damage was in a narrow canyon south of Caliente. Complicating repairs, the floodwaters also washed away access roads in the canyon which are being repaired in order to reach the tracks which collapsed when the roadbed was swept out from under the rail line.

Union Pacific officials said 200 repair workers have been on the job 24 hours a day to get the track operational. As part of the repairs, workers will build a new bridge to replace the Cottonwood Wash Bridge which was buried under as much as six feet of mud and rock during the flooding. The track will be raised by 10 feet in that area.

Sonya Headen, a spokeswoman for Nevada Power Co., said the utility's Reid Gardner power plant, located in the Moapa Valley, relies on the railroad to deliver the coal that the plant uses as fuel. At this point, however, the plant is well-stocked.

"There hasn't been any impact," she said. "There is a 30-day supply of coal on hand. We're in good shape."

Headen added that the effect of the rail stoppage was mitigated by the weather.

"If there was a worst-case scenario, we could truck it in," she said. "But this is a mild time of year for us. If it had been in summer, it could have been a more significant issue."

The scenario was much the same at the Ken's Foods Inc. plant in Las Vegas. Plant Manager Ray Nolan said soy oil and corn syrup are brought in by rail and used in making salad dressings, barbecue sauces and mayonnaise.

"It has had no effect on us," Nolan said, adding that any supply shortage would be made up using trucks. Such a move, however, does increase costs for the company.

"It does increase the cost for Ken's Foods," he said. "We use rail because it's cheaper than truck, but the costs aren't passed on to customers. Particularly if the railroad gets done in two weeks it won't have much effect at all."

Moe Truman is president of transportation company Pan Western Corp. He said there are currently about 1,200 rail cars backed up in Las Vegas waiting to be unloaded. That work continues until new cars come in when the line is restored.

If service returns on Monday, customers should see little interruption, he said, adding that the question becomes how many trains will move during a period of limited service.

"It'll be interesting once the 24th comes to see what partial service looks like," Truman said.

He predicted that the typical 24 daily trains coming into Las Vegas could drop to as few as four or five.