Flooding to lead to more trains, delays in Iowa City area

IOWA CITY – Midwest flooding may lead to more trains, and more delays at railroad crossings, in Johnson County.

Union Pacific Railroad has notified Johnson County communities that up to eight trains a day will be rerouted to the Iowa Interstate Railroad, which runs east-west through the county, according a news release from the city of Iowa City Tuesday.

Brenda Mainwaring, a Union Pacific spokeswoman, said she wasn't sure how many additional trains may be coming Iowa City's way. Currently, there are none going through Eastern Iowa, she said. The railroad has an intersection in Des Moines, and most of them will be going west from there, she said.

Union Pacific runs coast to coast and the Iowa Interstate Railroad is a short line, so the Union Pacific trains will be longer than the ones that typically use the line, she said. Mainwaring wasn't sure how much longer they would be but said the waits at crossings could be a few minutes longer than normal.

The crossings include Scott Boulevard, First Avenue, Greenwood Avenue, 22nd Avenue/Camp Cardinal Boulevard, Deer Creek Road, Jasper Avenue, Ireland Avenue and others.

Drivers and pedestrians are encouraged to be on alert for additional train traffic and to heed warning devices at railroad crossings.