U.S. Rail Authorities Temporarily Closing Some Operations Ahead Of Tropical Storm Gustav

Fort Worth, TX (AHN) - Fort-Worth based-Burlington Northern Sante Fe Corp. announced it would temporarily close its New Orleans facility ending train traffic in and out of the city ahead of the possibility of Tropical Storm Gustav making landfall next week on the Gulf Coast.

The New Orleans facility is normally open 24 hours a day and employs 20 people.

Trains headed for New Orleans will be held until company officials have a better idea of conditions in the area and give clearance to proceed, BNSF officials said according to reports.

As of 11 a.m. Friday, Tropical Storm Gustav was about 165 miles east-southeast of Grand Cayman and 450 miles east-southeast of the western tip of Cuba moving west-northwest at 8 miles per hour.

Forecasters with the U.S. National Hurricane Center say that Gustav is on track to cross over Cuba in the next 36 hours and head into the south-central Gulf of Mexico where conditions are favorable for the storm to strengthen into a hurricane, if it hasn't before then.

Gustav has maximum sustained winds of near 65 mph and tropical force wind bands radiating outward 140 miles from the storm center. It is expected to make a turn to the northwest later today.