....Is anyone close enough to see and determine what and how much action has started to redo the burned bridge yet.
Is it a "round the clock work action" now....?
Can someone keep us updated....?
Quentin
Carl
Railroader Emeritus (practiced railroading for 46 years--and in 2010 I finally got it right!)
CAACSCOCOM--I don't want to behave improperly, so I just won't behave at all. (SM)
I'm sure that UP will get that section of the trestle repaired ASAP, as there is no alternate connection between their main yard (Roseville, to the east) with Sacramento, and the line sees over 50 trains per day into and out of Sacramento. Probably for the time being, their transcontinental Northern California freight trains will be diverted to the old WP line from Sacramento through Oroville and up and down the Feather River Canyon (a single-track line that already is almost to capacity). Except for AMTRAK, UP does not schedule that many freight trains over the original SP Donner Pass line (which is mostly double track, but with heavier grades over the Sierra), perhaps 10-15 a day. However, the Feather River route can see as many as 20-25 trains a day (including at least 8 BNSF, which has trackage rights from Stockton to Keddie, where it diverges north over the old WP "Highline" to Oregon). An already over-taxed line is going to be even MORE overtaxed until UP can rebuild the trestle in Sacramento. Hopefully, they'll re-build it with concrete and steel, since a fill over the American River floodplain leading to the bridge would not work.
At least, using the WP main line through the Feather River Canyon will bring the trains into Sacramento over the old WP bridge to the south of the burned Ex-SP structure, into Sacramento, where a wye will take them onto the original east-west transcontinental route to Oakland and the Bay Area.
This could not be worse for a major Northern California east-west transcontinental line, which is also the main UP line between California and Oregon. Perhaps UP will work out a deal to send their Oregon traffic south along the now privately owned West End line (the old SP passenger line) between Red Bluff and Davis, but since the wye at Davis has been long removed, there is no real way to get northbound traffic onto the old SP West Side Line.
'Tis not a pretty picture, IMO. At least not for another several weeks to a month.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
....Thanks Carl and Tom for update and info...
...From some of the views in the news videos last evening it appeared to me the wooden "legs" of the trestle were standing on a footing of concrete....{not down in the ground}.
But I imagine if they use piling {perhaps steel}, they will be driven right down into the earth if that's possible there to find a good footing.
And then prestressed concrete top for forming the surface for the ballast, etc....
Modelcar--
The land that the trestle is built on is floodplain, which means the soil is pretty deep, so I assume the bottom support for the trestle--either wood or steel--will have to be embedded fairly deep.
On re-reading my original post, I mentioned the old WP crossing of the river as being south of the SP line. Not true, it is actually West. Got my directions mixed up (easy to do in Sacramento, BTW). But the old original SP line curves westerly after crossing the American river, and over-crosses the WP grade in Sacramento. Both lines have affected an interchange wye with each other, so traffic coming down from Oroville can obtain passage on the original SP line west to Oakland. At the same time, traffic coming north from Southern California on the old SP San Joaquin Valley line can access the ex-WP line from Sacramento as far north as Marysville, then join the original Oregon route. But I forsee that single-track Feather River line being stacked up for hours or even days, with the influx of emergency traffic. Ain't going to be a pretty sight.
However, direct interchange between the yards at Roseville and Sacramento are as of now, impossible. Southbound traffic from Oregon will still be able to come down the main East Side freight route, but will have to be re-routed from the old SP line at Marysville to the WP Feather River crossing for access to Sacramento and the Bay Area.
To put it mildly, it's a big, fat mess for UP, right now, until they can rebuild that American River trestle!
Jetrock wrote: The trestle is actually within the city limits of Sacramento--the American River parkway floods every year, so it looks like open countryside but it is surrounded by city on both sides. Because it floods regularly, it would be unlikely to get replaced by fill, so we'll most likely get a concrete trestle.Rough week for that neck of the woods: the old interlocking tower at Elvas Junction is due to be razed soon, if it hasn't been done already. The plume of smoke looked pretty amazing--I was driving home from work and caught a shot on my digital camera:One thing I am almost kind of hoping for: While it is relatively easy to use a bus bridge for Capitol Corridor passengers east of Sacramento, there is perhaps an off-hand chance that the California Zephyr will get temporarily rerouted north on the old WP mainline, up through its original route through the Feather River Canyon. There is precedent for this: when UP does tunnel work in Colorado, they reroute the CZ through Wyoming on the original Union Pacific transcontinental route. If they do, I might just have to schedule a weekend trip to Reno and bring a whole lot of film!
The trestle is actually within the city limits of Sacramento--the American River parkway floods every year, so it looks like open countryside but it is surrounded by city on both sides. Because it floods regularly, it would be unlikely to get replaced by fill, so we'll most likely get a concrete trestle.
Rough week for that neck of the woods: the old interlocking tower at Elvas Junction is due to be razed soon, if it hasn't been done already.
The plume of smoke looked pretty amazing--I was driving home from work and caught a shot on my digital camera:
One thing I am almost kind of hoping for: While it is relatively easy to use a bus bridge for Capitol Corridor passengers east of Sacramento, there is perhaps an off-hand chance that the California Zephyr will get temporarily rerouted north on the old WP mainline, up through its original route through the Feather River Canyon. There is precedent for this: when UP does tunnel work in Colorado, they reroute the CZ through Wyoming on the original Union Pacific transcontinental route. If they do, I might just have to schedule a weekend trip to Reno and bring a whole lot of film!
Jetrock--
Just between you and me and the gatepost, if the CZ gets re-routed through the Feather river Canyon again, I wouldn't want to be on it. UP and BNSF schedule anywhere from 20-25 trains a day over that winding, single track railroad, and the last time I was up the canyon on a rail-buff special (last spring) it took us almost fourteen hours to get from Sacramento to Portola. UP isn't going to give the Zephyr any slack, and especially now, with the extra 10-15 trains it's going to have to carry from the Donner Pass route, the Zephyr will be lucky if it EVER gets off a siding!
Too bad, too--it's a gorgeous route, but not if you're sitting on a siding for hours at a time.
beaulieu wrote:Word from elsewhere is that the replacement will be a pair of single-track steel pile with concrete deck bridges. Also UP is running SB trains up the valley to a point north of Binney Jct., where the SP East Valley line crosses the old WP, then using the connecting track there to head back south. Also crews are busy replacing the connecting track in the south quadrant at Binney Jct., so that trains won't need to either run around the train or have power on both ends. Crews are working to get this connecting track reinstalled by Saturday morning, They are lucky they didn't tear out the grade when they removed it a few years ago. Bridge material for a bridge replacement elsewhere this summer is being diverted to get this job done.
I can guess once the fire is out and UP removes the remains of the old trestle they'll go on an expedited construction schedule to get the double-track trestle rebuilt. I wouldn't be surprised it will be an all-steel structure, since it would not require the enormous expense of bringing in pre-cast concrete pieces to put into place for a trestle over 2,000 feet long! Hopefully, they can have the structure fully completed by end of May 2007.
SactoGuy188 wrote: I can guess once the fire is out and UP removes the remains of the old trestle they'll go on an expedited construction schedule to get the double-track trestle rebuilt. I wouldn't be surprised it will be an all-steel structure, since it would not require the enormous expense of bringing in pre-cast concrete pieces to put into place for a trestle over 2,000 feet long! Hopefully, they can have the structure fully completed by end of May 2007.
If it takes to the end of May, there will be a lot of openings in the UP's Engineering Dept. Plan is for one track open April 1st, second track May 1st. It will be two side-by-side single track structures, this is the new standard for redundancy, unless for some reason it is not possible to do it this way.
According to the latest news on Sacramento Channel 10, the CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR bound to Chicago will enter the old WP Feather River line interchange just east of Sacramento, then use the ex-WP tracks to Marysville, where it will divert southbound to Roseville on the ex-SP East Valley line, then join the eastbound Donner Pass line, a detour of about 125 miles. Evidently both east and west-bound Zepyrs, plus all Donner Route freights will use this route to bypass the burned bridge. I would think that all north and southbound Oregon bound freights will use this same route to Marysville, then return to their home trackage on the East Side route. That will mean an incredible number of freight trains per day on the largely single-track ex-WP trackage between Sacramento and Marysville, unless UP decides to divert some of their southbound traffic from Oregon down the largely dormant West Side trackage from Red Bluff through Woodland and Davis, which is now leased to a private company.
Debris is supposed to be cleared by Sunday night, and UP hopes to have at least one track operable on a new steel and concrete trestle by April 1.
But until then, I think railroad operations around the Sacramento area are going to be dicey at best for a while.
Approximate cost to UP is said to be close to 30 million dollars.
....All this new construction will be interesting. Seems two single trestles would be more expensive than just the one double but understand why they will do the two singles.
With reading above of the RR replacing a connector piece of track makes one wonder why they do rip out such track so often. They seem to get everything down to just enough and then when something out of the ordinary does happen, they have no recourse.
In regards to the connection track at Binney Jct., it's probably easier to have to replace the connection track than have to fix the old connector. If a connecting track in general isn't used and isn't maintained it's going to be in rough shape.
CC
I'm looking at maps and I see what looks like another railroad bridge across the American River (not too far away).
What part if any does/will that crossing play into all this???
No fill will be used. Steel and cement. UP already on scene with contractor. Debris being removed to landfill. Area is a park. About 750' of double track destroyed. Interesting fire. Almost totally involved within minutes. Yes it is cresote but man it was fast. I work in TV news so I was there. UP will have shoo fly track with one line by April 1 they say, then structure complete by May 1. Still burning when I left yesterday (Friday) at 7:00 pm.
...Davsplines: Welcome to forum. Keep us updated if you will be in the area. Thanks.
According to newscasts on both Channel 3 and 10 last night, and the Sacramento Bee this morning, UP and the fire departments involved are not counting out the fire as being of 'suspicious' origin, having spread so fast in such a short time. Evidently there was a Caltrains over the trestle about 15 minutes before the fire broke out, but nobody noticed anything unusual. However, the trestle itself is almost 100 years old, according to reports, and probably was soaked all the way through with creosote.
I also understand that UP was planning on replacing the trestle with steel and concrete, but not for a while--evidently until they finished double-tracking their Sunset route between LA and El Paso.
Now if they'd just re-install the double-track sections that SP tore out on the Donner Pass line between Emigrant Gap and Eagle Lakes, and Norden and Andover--something that UP promised would happen right after they bought SP, so many years ago, they could ease trans-Sierra congestion on their single-track Feather River Route, which is also partially shared with BNSF.
Rail traffic in Northern California is interesting almost any day, WITHOUT the American River fire!
"No soup for you!" - Yev Kassem (from Seinfeld)
Oh yee of little faith!
First Train Rolls Across Rebuilt Bridge Approach
The first train moves over the American River Bridge early Tuesday morning after the east approach, shown, was rebuilt following a fire.
The first train operated over a new approach to the American River Bridge in Sacramento, Calif., at 1:50 a.m. PDT Tuesday. Crews finished work on the first main track at about 1:30 a.m., several days ahead of the original estimate.
Cause of a March 15 fire that destroyed about 1,100 feet of the bridge's east approach remains under investigation.
Crews continue work on the second main track. As of Tuesday morning, nearly 75 percent of the steel piling had been driven. Work also continues on placing concrete caps on the steel piling. About 95 percent of the concrete girders have been delivered, with the remainder scheduled to arrive Thursday.
Completion of main track two now is scheduled for April 3, ahead of the original estimate due to continued good working conditions.
twhite wrote:Now if they'd just re-install the double-track sections that SP tore out on the Donner Pass line between Emigrant Gap and Eagle Lakes, and Norden and Andover--something that UP promised would happen right after they bought SP, so many years ago, they could ease trans-Sierra congestion on their single-track Feather River Route, which is also partially shared with BNSF.
I don't know where this promise was made but I do not recall it and I was there at the time. It's not made in the merger application, which would be the best place to make it.
Actually all of the Feather River Canyon has BNSF trackage rights. As for congestion, it's not significant on either line at present nor was it present at the time of the merger.
S. Hadid
The rebuild has to be the epitome of a panel party. I have been wondering if the steel and concrete components of the bridge were originally headed for another project. Of course, my assumption could be wrong but it seems unlikely that that everything was setting in storage "just in case". Especially in that quantity.
Anybody know?
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics
jeaton wrote: The rebuild has to be the epitome of a panel party. I have been wondering if the steel and concrete components of the bridge were originally headed for another project. Of course, my assumption could be wrong but it seems unlikely that that everything was setting in storage "just in case". Especially in that quantity. Anybody know?
IIRC one of the early press releases from UP indicated that the materials used were diverted from several projects planned for this summer. Sounds like UP has some poor little bridges with their abutments hanging out!.
dd
...But perhaps they are still standing yet and able to still do the job and can wait for their replacement later this year. Priorities....!
I know a few motorists in the Chicago area who are wondering if the UP and their contract construction crews do roadwork. A little more than two weeks to replace a big bridge... more than two years to replace an expressway. It's almost hard to imagine that something that size could be rebuilt so fast.
Chris30 wrote: I know a few motorists in the Chicago area who are wondering if the UP and their contract construction crews do roadwork. A little more than two weeks to replace a big bridge... more than two years to replace an expressway. It's almost hard to imagine that something that size could be rebuilt so fast.CC
According to the UP web site, Track 2 was opened for service a 1am PTD, Saturday morning March 31.
That's three days ahead of the last forecasted opening date and well ahead of the original "end of April" target date for completion of the bridge.
Champaign corks should be popping somewhere.
....In realizing engineering work, red tape, getting materials to site, removing burned materials, man power coordinated, machinery and other items I don't even know about....What a fete of accomplishment...!
I take nothing away from UP, but this is a heroic accomplishment only if you compare it to the feeble organizational and logistical capabilities of most corporations and government entities. This is nothing unusual for railroading. NS's accomplishments after Katrina were 100X the magnitude of this. Some other organizations I've had the pleasure of working with that have a similar attitude and understanding are electric utilities and combat units of the U.S., British, and Australian military, organizations that understand geography, time, and weather.
Most organizations can't live outside of their nice climate-controlled box with their needs like power, water, policing, office supplies all arriving like clockwork magic. Railroading is a game played outdoors in the middle of nowhere, 7/24. You get it right or you're run out.
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