Rising above the waters

Railway Age, April, 2008 by Douglas John Bowen

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Statistics are a favorite way to measure progress and business health. Most of the time those stats can be classified as growth indicators, reflecting a proactive business regimen that translates into increased sales, revenue, net income and, alas, expenses as well.

But a business might also be measured by its fortitude and ability to cope--and recover. And in the case of the South Kansas & Oklahoma Railroad, that meant coping with record rainfall and massive flooding over much of its territory last July, and exuding the fortitude and skill needed to rebound and recover.

"With a natural disaster, we were faced with a 'coping situation'; it's difficult for even the most prepared business of any kind to plan for such things," said Pat Cedeno, chief operations officer for Watco's Central Region, in a presentation last January at Railway Age's 2008 Railway Security Conference and Expo in Arlington, Va.

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Railway Age honors SKOL as the 2008 Regional Railroad of the Year for the railroad's decisive, disciplined response.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Watco Cos. Inc., appropriately named SKOL covers approximately 511 miles of line, including 404 main line miles, in southern Kansas and northeastern Oklahoma. Headquartered in Cherryvale, Kan., the hub of the regional system, the railroad-handles approximately 42,000 carloads of aggregates, fuel, chemicals, nitrogen fertilizer, and agricultural products per year over its six subdivisions. The railroad connects with numerous other rail carriers, including three Class I's: Union Pacific, BNSF, and Kansas City Southern.

Key interchange points within Kansas are in Coffeyville, Fredonia, and Winfield; Tulsa, Okla., is a fourth major location.

Soon after rain began falling on June 26, 2007, all six subdivisions were besieged by potential flooding. Within a week, 20 inches of rain caused numerous rivers to overflow their banks, inundating 38 miles of SKOL right-of-way, damaging or destroying bridges, and trapping, flooding, and/or damaging 250 railcars. Nor was track the only affected physical plant; SKOL's Millennium Rail repair shop in Neodesha, Kan., suffered flooding and had to shut down.

It was, says Cedeno, the region's worst flooding in 75 years.

SKOL suspended service June 30 and issued an embargo on 250 miles of its territory on July 2. During this time, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Oklahoma Gov. Brad Henry declared affected portions of their states to be under disaster emergency; President Bush also declared a federal disaster emergency for the affected area, as well.

Though some rivers began receding by July 2, nearly 20 miles of SKOL right-of-way remained under water.

Says Watco CEO Ed McKechnie, "In one valley we cross, the bridge sits 90 feet above the river; our people found that the bridge was 10 feet below the river line. When the river is 100 feet higher for a three-day period, it stuns people. It's hard to comprehend. But it happened; it was real. So were our problems."

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As waters continued to recede July 3-5, and SKOL employees ventured further onto the property to assess the situation, SKOL estimated its recovery efforts would cost at least $4.5 million. But the more immediate need was a swift response by work crews. Cedeno notes that the Class I's could offer only limited assistance, since they, too, were victimized by the floodwaters and had to address needs of their own. As well, contract help, though available, was also stretched to the limit by widespread demand throughout the region.

Nonetheless, beginning July 6, SKOL employees began repair work, and by July 9 SKOL and Watco had formulated a three-phase emergency repair and reopening plan, and focused all initial efforts on emergency repairs to get the railroad reopened, if only to retrieve, recover, or expedite existing traffic trapped by floodwaters. Cedeno notes that for all intents and purposes, that goal covered the entire SKOL; only customers on the extreme east edge of SKOL, in Pittsburg and Columbus, Kan., continued to be served in anything resembling normal capacity within Kansas. Likewise, SKOL's southern extremity, south of Bartlesville, Okla., to Tulsa, was similarly spared the full impact of the disaster.

For the rest of the system, recovery work included 38 miles of cribbing and lining, installation of 1,900 new ties, 605 carloads of ballast unloaded, 142 carloads of riprap put in place, repairs to 16 bridges, and resurfacing of 97 miles of right-of-way, mostly to Class II standards.

Bridge repairs were conducted quickly, since (fortunately) most structures sustained only minor damage. But SKOL's damage assessment teams reported plenty of other problems: 14 miles of right-of-way fencing destroyed; 23 road crossings severely damaged, signal bungalow equipment damaged by water and wind; and miscellaneous debris, along with poor ditch drainage, that threatened to make repair efforts even worse if not dealt with quickly.

Physical repair aside, SKOL representatives sought out customers both to assure them of the railroad's intent to resume service as quickly as humanly possible, and to solicit comment from those customers on how best to proceed. "We were in communication with all of the folks we work with throughout the period," Cedeno says, including SKOL's interchange partners.