Photo courtesy of the City of Sedalia

The Union Pacific railroad tracks are back open in Sedalia after one of their trains had to made an emergency stop late Sunday, Jan. 11 that resulted in the blockage of several at-grade crossings in the city.

The City of Sedalia says one of the freight cars on the westbound train experienced an issue and had to be detached from the rest of the train before the train could continue its route. City officials say the system installed to alert emergency personnel of blocked crossings functioned as designed, resulting in the deployment and staging of emergency resources on the north side of the tracks.

The incident comes as crews tasked with repairing the Washington Street Bridge over the railroad recently received the final approval for their plans from Union Pacific. The bridge has been closed to traffic since October 2024, after an inspection the previous February found several structural issues with the approach to the 106-year-old span.