This is a view of a section of track on the Union Pacific Moffat Tunnel Subdivision main line west of Rocky, Colorado, on June 9, 2014. After the Colorado floods of September 2013, a 200-foot section of track here on the large fill just below Big 10 Curve was removed, with the fill stabilized and improved with a new culvert and wider access road. Everything was fine for a week or so after being put back into service, but then a portion of track west of the culvert began to slowly drop away. It has been a constant maintenance battle, needing frequent ballast and alignment, with the track moving a total of five feet. As of June 9, 2014, a large group of contractors moved in to “get to the bottom” of the problem so-to-speak. In the background, two excavators move across the main line to the bottom of the fill to begin work, after a Caterpillar scratched a rough road to access the area. On the left, a UP Freightliner truck equipped with a Builtrite Handler moves in along the main line to lift the rails for some hand tamping of the track and another very temporary fix of the main line, to allow a late Amtrak train No. 5 and other trains to pass by.
