Railroads warn Harvey may cause long closure of Houston tracks

Major U.S. railroads have warned it could be a long time before normal operations resume after Hurricane Harvey caused catastrophic flooding in the Houston area. The closure of rail lines in the grain transport hub and nexus for cross-border traffic with Mexico presents a costly headache for companies ranging from automakers to farmers which use the lines to send ethanol, cereals and auto parts to and from Mexico or to be loaded onto ships. The top two U.S. railroads, Union Pacific Corp and Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s BNSF Railway have suspended operations in the area affected by the storm, as has regional railroad Kansas City Southern. Read more…