“In preparation of the coming weather and as a precautionary measure, we are prepping ballast trains and equipment in the event that we need to respond to a washout or other rain/flood related event,” Justin Jacobs, UP’s director of corporate relations and media in Roseville tells Trains News Wire. UP earlier sent out spreaders and flangers to clear the two main lines and move snow farther off the right-of-way, he added.
As of midday Thursday, Amtrak’s website showed Train No. 6, the eastbound California Zephyr, running at close to track speed but 38 minutes late over the 7,000-foot pass between Roseville and Truckee, Calif., after being stung four hours on Wednesday. Its westbound counterpart arriving early in Truckee on Wednesday fell 38 minutes behind schedule by the time it loaded passengers and reached Roseville.
Also on Thursday, the Sugar Bowl ski area near the railroad summit at Norden reported 38 inches of fresh snow in 24 hours with a storm total of 81 inches.
For truckers and other motorists, chain restrictions on Interstate 80 began Sunday night with the route closed briefly Wednesday morning and then from early that afternoon until about 6 a.m. Thursday.
Meanwhile the National Weather Service issued flood watches for up to 15 inches of rain on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada and a foot on the east from Saturday afternoon into Monday morning.
“Amounts of precipitation this high have not been seen since December 2005,” the weather service forecast office in Sacramento, Calif., reported.
The 30 miles of railroad between Truckee and Cisco may get mostly rain as snow is forecast above 7,000 to 8,000 feet.
