Jun. 23--Train watchers may be starting to notice fewer coal trains passing through Pueblo. Mike Hernandez is well aware of the situation.

Hernandez, manager of Xcel Energy's Comanche Station power plant, said that the facility has coal stored for about 21 days, compared to its typical reserve of 41 days.

The shortage is due to work by the Union Pacific and BNSF railroads, which are making repairs to a line they operate coming out of Wyoming's Powder River Basin.

Heavy rains washed out ballast, the rock beds under the ties and rails, and the railroads have to shut down traffic to make repairs.

Trains are still coming out but the number has dropped drastically, especially for shipments to the south.

Hernandez said that he's been told it's going to take four to six weeks to complete the work. "It's going to be probably touch and go until they get their main line repaired," he said.

Typically, Comanche will burn 90 percent of the coal delivered in a train, putting the rest onto a reserve pile. The plant hasn't been able to replenish its reserve and is actually drawing it down.

High summer temperatures cause strong demand for power and generating stations don't have much flexibility this time of year.

"I think we'll be OK," Hernandez said, "but we're going to have to watch what we do here. Hopefully the weather will give us some relief to do that."

Xcel supplies most of the power used by Aquila, Pueblo's retail energy company. Aquila burns natural gas and diesel in its back-up power station on Victoria Avenue. Its Canon City plant burns biomass and coal but, according to Mark Even, the company's manager for technical support, that coal comes from Colorado and is not affected by the railroads' problems in Wyoming.

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