Economic impact: Incident cuts off freight service through metro Phoenix.
Incident cuts off freight service to metro Phoenix
The metro Phoenix area will be cut off from freight-train service from Union Pacific for the foreseeable future following a Wednesday derailment that burned a bridge over Tempe Town Lake.
Most freight in metro Phoenix is shipped on trucks, but trains carry about 7 million tons of goods worth about $14.6 billion a year in the county, according to a 2017 study by the Maricopa Association of Governments.
The No. 1 item shipped to Arizona on the Union Pacific line is new cars, followed by corn, grain and lumber materials, according to the railroad. Outbound shipments are predominantly scrap metal and other metal products.
“Rail has a significant role,” said Tim Strow, transportation policy and planning director for MAG. “The Phoenix metro area is one of the fastest growing places in the U.S, and lots of building materials are moved by rail.”
Rail cars involved in Wednesday’s derailment carried lumber, as well as an industrial chemical called cyclohexanone, used in the production of nylon, pharmaceuticals, dyes, herbicides, pesticides, plasticizers and rubber chemicals.
Arizona’s railway system
Arizona has two major railroads crossing the state from east to west. The Union Pacific line is south of Phoenix, running through Gila Bend, and the BNSF Railway line runs across northern Arizona through Flagstaff. Both companies have branch lines that run to metro Phoenix.
Freight passing through Arizona should not be interrupted because the Union Pacific main line bypasses metro Phoenix to the south.
For example, Freeport-McMoRan Inc. operates copper mines in Arizona, and uses rail to export some of its products. But company spokeswoman Linda Hayes said the company’s shipments should not be affected because they rely on that southern track.
The track over Tempe Town Lake that was damaged branches off Union Pacific’s interstate line to pick up and deliver freight to metro Phoenix.
Freight inbound and outbound of the city will either need to be rerouted to the BNSF Railway that serves the city, or trucked instead.
Customers who receive shipments along the Union Pacific tracks hypothetically could get their deliveries from BNSF, as the two lines share a connection point in central Phoenix, but doing so increases shipping costs and time.
A Union Pacific spokesman Wednesday said the company is considering alternative shipping routes.
“We could bring it in on BNSF, but they are competitors,” Strow said.
Union Pacific previously operated a rail line from Phoenix that headed west and interconnected with the southern line, which appears on some national maps today. But that line is no longer in service and no longer appears on the company’s own system maps.
Union Pacific had no estimate Wednesday for how long it would take to repair the Tempe bridge.
New home construction in the Valley is ramping back up, and any delay in getting construction supplies could mean higher prices and longer wait times for buyers to move into their homes.
Arizona home building expert Jim Belfiore said potential material shortages for contractors due to the rail line damage is something the industry will need to watch, but it’s too early to tell the impact.
Construction of new apartments that also need lumber for frames appears to be slowing due issues related to COVID-19, so a delay in getting materials isn’t as big of a concern.
“Losing a load of lumber isn’t the problem. The problem is, no builder will build (rental) housing if the government can step in and deny property owners the ability to collect rent at any moment — as the governor has with his 7-month eviction moratorium,” according to a statement from the Arizona Multihousing Association.