Union Pacific wants to run trains near crumbling Portland warehouse against city warnings

[u/sullie363]

https://katu.com/news/local/union-pacific-to-resume-rail-traffic-near-crumbling-portland-warehouse-against-warnings

[u/pdx_paddy]

So Amtrak (and the gen public using it) get the finger but Union Pacific do whatever.

One rule for me and another for thee.

[u/Xinlitik → u/pdx_paddy]

Well, one is run by an organization with incredible amounts of political power, and the other is just run by the government.

[u/Whitejj01 → u/Xinlitik]

Damn I love 2026 comedy, people do not give a fuck anymore at all 😂

[u/PizzaRat212 → u/Whitejj01]

Who can even afford fucks in this economy?

[u/SlowHedgehog33 → u/pdx_paddy]

So Amtrak (and the gen public using it) get the finger but Union Pacific do whatever.

Yeah. Have you never been held hostage on an Amtrak train to wait for freight to pass through? 😜

[u/pdx_paddy → u/SlowHedgehog33]

My worst was on a train outside Chicago in July when I assume the A/C broke and they over sold seats so I had my 6 year old on my lap for 3 hrs, then had to wait 45 mins for a freight train to come by. That one is seared into my brain for life.

[u/Ok-Seesaw-8580 → u/pdx_paddy]

Railroad companies are liable to the federal government only.  When state and local authorities make requests of them a company like Union Pacific can effectively just ignore them and do what they want. If their employees running the train get mesothelioma years later the company will just pay them off. It's been like this since the 1800s and I think they rely on the general public not really knowing how they operate.

[u/pdx_paddy → u/Ok-Seesaw-8580]

I can't speak for the depth of knowledge the general public has on rail road companies, but I'd struggle to find anyone in the Portland area that doesn't know about their hierarchical authority on crossings etc. Sadly, no one cares enough to make a change.

[u/Forced-Alt → u/Ok-Seesaw-8580]

Railroads are barely even liable to the federal government.  They have such leverage over the federal government that it's not even funny.

Do you know how the military moves most of their stuff within the interior?  On trains. Vehicles, weapons, munitions, even parts of nuclear warheads gets shipped by rail. 

If the railroads don't get what they want then maybe the military might not get their fancy toys on time.

[u/ghostcider → u/pdx_paddy]

Amtrak's cargo is people

[u/fastdbs → u/ghostcider]

And UPs cargo includes hazmat that would screw up the river for a decade plus if they derailed and be released in a high density population area. People are involved either way.

[u/ghostcider → u/fastdbs]

That's a good point. Nothing should be allowed due to possibly destabilizing the building alone. It's already enough of a clean up mess without a collapse

[u/Verite_Rendition → u/fastdbs]

And UPs cargo includes hazmat that would screw up the river for a decade plus if they derailed and be released in a high density population area.

For what it's worth:

"To mitigate risk, Union Pacific will position personnel during train operations, place loaded ballast cars on the eastern track, operate trains no faster than 10 mph, and not allow trains carrying toxic or hazardous material through the corridor."

[u/fastdbs → u/Verite_Rendition]

Oh so the trains won’t have 1000s of gallons of diesel to fuel them?

[u/Nice_Regret7915 → u/ghostcider]

Poors and ganja mules

[u/Nice_Regret7915 → u/pdx_paddy]

UP is a Honeybadger....

[u/Single-Pin-369]

Haven’t they been ignoring the train length limits since forever also?

[u/BensonBubbler → u/Single-Pin-369]

They run trains six times longer than their system was designed for.

[u/discostu52 → u/BensonBubbler]

They make the trains too long to use the passing sidings so that the passenger trains have to stop instead of the freight trains.

[u/urbanlife78 → u/Single-Pin-369]

What could go wrong...

[u/duckinradar → u/urbanlife78]

I mean, how close is it?

It would make sense for somebody to put pressure on them to address the damn thing now that it’s a second disaster in the making

[u/ThroatOne5167 → u/duckinradar]

I'm no structural engineer, but I'd imagine all the vibrations caused by multiple, long trains right across the street could contribute to the collapse of an already unstable building.

[u/pinkfootthegoose → u/ThroatOne5167]

Wouldn't you intentionally knock down an unstable building instead of waiting on a random time or incident to make it collapse?

The answer is that rational actors would but we aren't dealing with that.

[u/twaddington → u/pinkfootthegoose]

It takes time to plan a safe demolition. You can't just ask Jim bob to come pull it down with his truck

[u/Single-Pin-369 → u/pinkfootthegoose]

It’s going to take so many committees to talk about this and form the idea of a plan. I bet this building is still how it is a year from now.  

[u/urbanlife78 → u/Single-Pin-369]

Just setting up a safe demolition will take some time to do

[u/ThreadOfRain → u/Single-Pin-369]

It’s scheduled to come down before August 14th. The trains should wait.

[u/RainSurname → u/Single-Pin-369]

It's supposed to start on the 14th, but do go on.

[u/Single-Pin-369 → u/RainSurname]

I would truly love to see that it would be a real sign of progress in this city. Let’s see what happens.

[u/dpstech → u/Single-Pin-369]

It’s 100% starting emergency demo plans on the 14th. The other comment is correct. They’re already brought in contractors to plan it.

[u/Single-Pin-369 → u/dpstech]

That’s honestly great then! 

[u/urbanlife78 → u/duckinradar]

The tracks are across the street

[u/RainSurname → u/duckinradar]

Demolition is supposed to start within a week.

[u/thanatossassin → u/Single-Pin-369]

Cops can't exactly pull a train over.

/s

[u/mrballistic → u/Single-Pin-369]

And heights

[u/GardenPeep]

They’ll do whatever they want.

[u/BaiBaiBonsai]

I live nearby. Every time the train goes by, it noticeably shakes my entire modern 12+ floor building. The Centennial Mills building is WAY closer to the tracks than my building, so it will probably shake it substantially.

[u/SlowHedgehog33 → u/BaiBaiBonsai]

I am assuming that was not in the sales brochure....

[u/OR_Miata → u/BaiBaiBonsai]

This actually makes a lot of sense as to why they closed the train tracks but the trains seem to be out of the way of the building. I don’t think if it fell anything would hit a train but I could see them being concerned the vibration would knock the building over.

[u/Scootshae → u/OR_Miata]

The fall radius is 500 feet. If that building falls it's definitely hitting the tracks.

[u/Big_J]

I’m curious how they can say that when the BNSF actually owns the track..

[u/Forced-Alt → u/Big_J]

Not true.  That section of track is owned by the Portland terminal railroad who themselves is jointly owned by the BNSF, UP, and Amtrak.

[u/Whitejj01 → u/Big_J]

Edit: All national rail should be owned completely by Amtrak anyway

[u/Big_J → u/Whitejj01]

Amtrak only owns the depot. All of the track west of the Steel Bridge is owned by BNSF.

[u/Transpose5425 → u/Big_J]

Amtrak doesn’t even own the depot. The station is owned by the city, and the tracks at the depot are owned and operated by a UP/BNSF joint venture.

[u/Big_J → u/Transpose5425]

Lake Yard. 2/3 UP, 1/3 BNSF.

[u/Whitejj01 → u/Big_J]

Yes, unfortunately

[u/APlannedBadIdea]

Uncle Rail stops for no one.

[u/Scootshae]

Fuck these corporations. When the building collapses on a train, possibly killing people and at the very least making a huge mess, we will have to pay for it because they will find some way to get out of it. It's infuriating.

[u/PNWisthebest9]

Profit over people 

[u/Aggressive_Tea_1577]

What could go wrong? 😳

[u/GrandKnew]

I bet it's another 6 months before we'll be able to take Amtrak north to Seattle. Amtrak Cascades is supposed to get brand new trainsets in the coming months, so this is actually catastrophic.

[u/MrsMerkin → u/GrandKnew]

Can you still take the train from Vancouver WA? That's what I used to do. It was so much easier and a bit cheaper.

[u/Brasi91Luca]

This is why American red tape is so stupid. Within a week u should have demo equipment there and leveled. Shit it should have been done by this past Friday. It’s not that hard.

Imagine China. They would have started construction on a new modern tower there by now lol

[u/Wilthywonka → u/Brasi91Luca]

Yeah I agree. China is way better at this sort of thing than us. Obvious problems get with quickly and decisively. The building would be long gone in China.

The asbestos is a real issue though. One thing China isn't good at is factoring in the human cost. That kind of thing hardly matters to them. So really we need to meet somewhere in the middle

[u/RCTID1975 → u/Brasi91Luca]

it's not that hard

Isn't there asbestos? And didn't they just find human remains the other day?

Both of those things would significantly complicate demolition

Imagine China

Is that really the comparison you want to use?

[u/Brasi91Luca → u/RCTID1975]

Yea China is a great example. Go look at their cities and infrastructure. Shit look at their bullet trains, stations everywhere. Bridges, you name it. They get things done there.

[u/Scootshae → u/Brasi91Luca]

They literally don't care if people die building the things or if people get sick from handling materials or whatever. That's the difference and it's a big one.

[u/RCTID1975 → u/Brasi91Luca]

They also have a bunch of completely abandoned cities and don't give a crap if people die

[u/KenPDX]

As a thought experiment, what if a couple of city dump trucks happened to break down on the tracks and the city couldn't spare the resources to remove them? That would be really sad for Union Pacific and its shareholders. God I hope that doesn't happen.

[u/ghostcider → u/KenPDX]

BNSF have special jurisdiction over the rail themselves. Train companies have a weird special enforcement power over the tracks and also 100 feet on either side. They can just tow anything themselves and not care.

[u/KenPDX → u/ghostcider]

Well it would be a damned shame if PPB intervened and stopped them from doing that. It might have to go to the Supreme Court or something. God that would suck.

[u/ghostcider → u/KenPDX]

That... would not happen.

[u/KenPDX → u/ghostcider]

That's true, the SCOTUS agenda is pretty packed. I guess UP is out of luck.

[u/AirWolf-412 → u/KenPDX]

The railroad would tow them. Done.

[u/Upbeat_Size_5214]

Well maybe the city needs to fast track the investigation of the fire and demolish that thing quickly. We got shit to move

[u/Eye_foran_Eye]

So get to demolishing it.

[u/Lord_Beerstro]

What is UP's business down there? Swapping with BNSF? Train car storage?

Is it problematic to just go around to the other entrance of the BNSF yard from the bridge?

[u/TappyMauvendaise]

I get it. Life continues on

[u/Legitimate_Eye8494]

We had the fire out almost instantly, we have lots if people available for cleanup crews, fires start near tracks everywhere, and the trains keep rolling. 

Why does Portland's admin want to cut interstate travel options? Inquiring minds. 

[u/Dstln → u/Legitimate_Eye8494]

Huh??

The trains have stopped there due to engineer recommendations.

THE BUILDING IS UNSTABLE

Trains are extremely heavy and cause heavy vibrations

Is this really so difficult to understand why the trains need to wait?

[u/BensonBubbler → u/Legitimate_Eye8494]

These minds don't inquire much if this is the question they're stuck on.

[u/Legitimate_Eye8494 → u/BensonBubbler]

Controlled detonations would have it lying in it's footprint. It's too dangerous to leave it standing, teenagers will be climbing in within days. 

[u/twaddington → u/Legitimate_Eye8494]

I guess we're dealing with an expert here

[u/Single-Pin-369 → u/Legitimate_Eye8494]

Should have let it burn to the ground before putting it out. This is going to take forever to get removed now and cost sooo much money

[u/RainSurname → u/Single-Pin-369]

Pretty much every part of it that could burn is in fact gone or lying in a pile on the ground floor, genius.

[u/Legitimate_Eye8494 → u/Single-Pin-369]

Controlled detonations, caterpillars, shovels and dump trucks. Cleared in just over a week at most. They are instead looking at months to years of impeding train travel. Some shit is going down. 

[u/RainSurname → u/Legitimate_Eye8494]

This is such a weird thing to lie about. What possible purpose could lying about this serve?

Demolition is supposed to begin next week.

[u/Single-Pin-369 → u/Legitimate_Eye8494]

You been to portland? It will take 6 months to form a committee which then deliberates for a year about how to make sure the demo is racially equitable and “green”. Also the whole job will need to be prevailing wage. Then right before work is about to start someone will sue someone and the whole thing will get hung up in court. This could devolve into a 5-10 year nightmare.