Washouts and twisted track due to flooding has snarled, disrupted or halted freight and passenger rail service on several lines in southern Wisconsin.

"The flooding has pretty much crippled our operations," said Ken Lucht of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad. "A lot of what we're doing right now is waiting for the water to recede so we can see what the damage is."

The state also has no Amtrak service between Milwaukee and La Crosse. Amtrak is busing passengers on the Empire Builder line, which goes to Seattle and Portland, from Wisconsin Dells, Tomah and La Crosse to St. Paul, Minn., where they can board the train.

The shutdown of several area lines means shippers of lumber, bulk plastics and other materials are turning to more expensive trucks as the alternative.

Lucht estimated that repairing the line between Madison and Prairie du Chien will cost about $1 million.

The Wisconsin & Southern Railroad isn't alone in its flooded-related problems.

"All of the major railroads have been incurring temporary shutdowns and embargoes," Lucht said.

The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway's route along the Mississippi River hasn't been disrupted in Wisconsin and trains from other railroads are using it as an alternate route. The BNSF does have tracks flooded near St. Louis, said spokesman Steve Forsberg.

"We're doing so much rerouting of our own traffic because of problems farther south that we've added to the congestion on alternate routes," he said.

Many of the tracks used by the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad are owned by the state and leased to the railroad. Lucht said the railroad is responsible for maintenance and the cost of repairing those tracks, and may be eligible for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He said the line between Madison and Reedsburg is owned by the railroad and probably won't quality for federal help.

The worst problems include:

• The Canadian Pacific line that runs from La Crosse to Milwaukee and south to Illinois, also used by Amtrak, is closed due to flooded tracks near the Reeseville Marsh west of Watertown. The Wisconsin & Southern line between Madison and Watertown also is shut down due to the same flooding. The Union Pacific route between Chicago and Minneapolis also has flooded tracks.

• The Wisconsin & Southern line between Madison and Reedsburg is closed due to flooded and damaged tracks near Reedsburg and at Devil's Lake.

• The Wisconsin & Southern line between Madison and Prairie du Chien is closed west of Avoca and 500 feet of the rail line has washed out at Wauzeka.

Lucht said some companies are having their inbound freight shipped to Madison, then loading it into trucks for the final leg of the trip.

Two Reedsburg companies are among those hurt by the rail line shutdown.

Pace Industries, which uses raw plastic pellets to make continuous sheets or roll stock for the printing industry, had several incoming rail cars on the way when the flooding hit last week.

The company, which receives 200 rail cars a year — or the equivalent of 900 trucks — stopped the cars and switched the loads to trucks at higher cost.

"The logistics is something that becomes more difficult to handle," said president Blake Pace. "It's that many more shipments we're having to arrange and there's a cost relation to efficiency."

Pace said his company may have to absorb the extra cost because competition won't let him easily raise prices.

Hartje Lumber Co. near Reedsburg arranged to have its rail car shipments of lumber and building materials dropped off at Hall Lumber Sales in Middleton. The Reedsburg company then sent its own trucks to pick up the shipments.

"It's going to cost a few extra dollars," said the company's Mike Hartje. "It's not the worst thing in the world."