Iowa floods snarl Midwest rail system

DES MOINES, Iowa, June 17 (UPI) -- Widespread spring flooding in the U.S. heartland Tuesday was making a mess out of rail transportation in Midwestern states.

Amtrak said flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries in Iowa had disrupted passenger rail service at Fort Madison and Burlington, which in turn affected train service into Chicago from Kansas City and the West Coast.

In addition to closing railroad routes and stations, flooded highways are "making the provision of alternate transportation by chartered motorcoach impossible in some cases," Amtrak said in a statement.

Amtrak trains run along Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) tracks in the soggy Hawkeye State, so that means freight traffic also is being delayed. BNSF said in a notice to its customers late Monday that east-west rail lines at several locations along the Mississippi had been closed.

Union Pacific Railroad was experiencing disruptions on rail lines linking Des Moines, Kansas City, Chicago and Minneapolis.