Brian Bergtold , the guru of the Santa Cruz branch, was unable to post a reply here because of a glitch putting in the code but sent this to me to try to post for him:

Tell them a local birdie says........ CEMEX & UP have stopped rail service in the interim, most likely in an effort to limit cement dust. The past week, AKA since the controversy, has seen no rail service in or out of the plant. A cut of loads containing the supposed materials producing chromium 6 (steel slag/mill scale) sits on Orby siding (west Santa Cruz). All other shipments of same are to be refused, returned to sender, or disposed of. CEMEX has told the local press that debris from loading cement into trucks is a likely culprit, yet in the same period no rail loads have come from the plant. They claim the shutdown of the plant is no different than previous economic slowdowns this year, yet those didn't result in this rail embargo. In short, the Santa Cruz Local has been annulled this past past week. Lumber shipments to BuildPro (nee-San Lorenzo Lumber in Felton & Capitola) may yield an abbreviated run until CEMEX gets their act together.