If you love the railroads, this summer has been fun for you in the Hutchinson area. If you’ve been caught in traffic at a railroad crossing because of one of those long coal trains, maybe not so much fun. That’s all about to change as residents should start seeing fewer trains through Hutchinson and Reno County, now that the Missouri River flooding is over.

A section of railroad carrying coal from Lincoln, Neb., to Kansas City, Mo., was closed due to flooding, forcing the BNSF Railway to reroute coal trains onto the lightly used line from La Junta Colorado through Dodge City, Hutchinson and on to Kansas City. The line normally sees about 6 trains per day, but increased to more than 25 when BNSF rerouted the 150-plus car trains through central Kansas.
 
BNSF reopened the flooded section — known as the St. Joseph Subdivision — on Sept. 3 and is returning coal trains to their normal route.

The rerouting forced the railroad to relocate more than 500 train crews and other employees, and it’s taking some time to return those workers to their normal locations. Between the BNSF and normal traffic on the Union Pacific, Hutchinson and Reno County was seeing as many as 50 trains per day.