From a top-right front-page ‘SPECIAL REPORT’ article in the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper of Sunday, Sept. 20, 2009:
Amtrak bridges in region troubled
Officials say the region’s spans are safe, but they need hundreds of millions in repairs. An Inquirer lawsuit threat uncovered the data.
A summary excerpt:
‘‘Nearly half of Amtrak’s 302 bridges in the Philadelphia region have some elements rated “poor” or worse, according to Amtrak’s bridge-inspection reports, prepared over the last two years. The Inquirer obtained them under the Freedom of Information Act.’’
There are a couple of photos and some graphics, but nothing outstanding. The continuation of the article covers all of page A-15, plus the lead-in half-column on page A-1, so it rated some significant space. I don’t think there’s really any ‘news’ here - it’s no secret that a lot of those bridges are old and need major work or repla
I no longer get the Inquirer, but will have to see if I can find a copy…That is actually the second article in a year or year and a half regarding the state of repair of Amtrak’s local infrastructure. The first one was scathing, to say the least.
In case you can’t find a copy, the 1st link above will take you to the entire article - including the 3 photos - but not the graphics, for some reason.
What was the other ‘scathing’ article about ? I didn’t see or hear about it.
Some further thoughts regarding this, mostly aspects that the article didn’t say or address in any way, so we can’t tell if the reporter even thought to ask about them or not:
A couple of notices - if issued, or not - would tell us how seriously Amtrak views these bridge condition problems, in a very eloquent manner:
Are there any speed restrictions / ‘slow orders’ for trains across any of these bridges ?
SEWI? Is that for “Southeast Wisconsin”? Sounds like it. Well, the State of South Dakota won’t allow Amtrak to access their huge gold mines and vast oil reserves. Maybe someone should talk to NIMBY Senator Dorgan, out there in the hinterlands… Never know, you know? You might even get Amtrak service to your state capitol, but just for slimy, cheating UW college hockey games.
Doesn’t the Phila. Inquirer have a web site? Is it a “Gannett” newspaper, with its head in the sand (and elsewhere) ? That would figure. The “machine” rolls on, but everyone gets free cheese steaks.
I remember reading that article on Philly.com which is the website that I belive Philadelphia Mag, and The Philadelphia Inquirer own. In the article it mentioned that the Obama stimulus money for Amtrak is supposed to go to Amtrak’s bridge project, so that way they can upgrade the track speed to 125 mph instead of 110. I don’t know if this will ever happen or not? There are some pretty bad railroad bridges around Philly two in particular I can name are the NEC bridge at North Philly station that crosses over Broad St. It’s old and there are some parts in which the rebar is showing. The concrete on this bridge is pealing off too. The other bridge I believe was mentioned in the article the 52nd street bridge. The are also a couple of CSX bridges I can name that need some attention in Philly but thats another story. [:)]
The article appeared after the Minneapolis bridge collapse. It’s was part of a series on the state of the Philadelphia area infrastructure. The article pulled no punches regarding Amtrak’s woeful maintenance of bridges and retaining walls. As well as the lack of funding for both Amtrak and SEPTA to properly maintain such things.
PDN: AMTRAK has revised their ARRA bridge repairs and replacements (released Aug 07). The original ARRA info posted on their web site so is no longer available for actual comparsion but I’ll give it a try.
1. The two projects listed in the original ARRA were Niantic River replacement. Now listed at 67.5M ARRA and 101M total cost
The Portal bridge no cost listed.
2.New projects listed - could be wrong about a couple are
a. Themes River - Paint part that was not replaced 16M
b. Wilmington De DE 27.00 - Replace Super Structure(SS) 5M
c. Pelham Bay NY 15.73 - Replace Concrete piles 10M
Annual inspection reports are only that, reports. They only report on what can be seen. Comments are all relative. The key is to be consistent from report to report so the picture created is accurate over time. Another person, seldom the same person doing the on site inspection, must look at the report and determine if additional information is needed. For serious conditons, the inspector must take action immediately, but that presumes they understand what they are seeing, which they better if they are trusted to do the inspection.
The new FRA proposed rule published 8-17-09 in the Federal Register addresses these and many more issues in great detail. For any bridge inspection report there will often be something in it that is less than favorable. Just citing a total number of poor ratings tells you nothing about what it applied to. The hand rail or the main girder? There is a difference.
The article makes many statements in order to create the image of how terrible things are. They also mention the 1400+ bridges Amtrak is responsible for. The burden of that number of bridges, most of which are not new, is tremendous. Amtrak’s bridge people have their hands full with everything but money.
As a side note, RAILROAD bridges are built to last a lot longer than 50 years.
Another shameless plug: Anyone interested in learning about railroad bridge inspection should visit the AREMA.org website and look at the new Bridge Inspection Seminars being offered. This is a 3 day class prepared by some of the best railroad bridge engineers in North America to follow AREMA’s recently published handbook on the subject. The website shows one coming in Spring, TX in October and Roseville, CA in November but there will be one in the Chicago area in December and several more around the country next spring.
The class will not make anyone into a bridge inspector but will teach you when t
After the Minneapolis collapse, virtually every local media outlet (print & electronic) did stories on the decaying infrastructure of their communities and tried to cast blame. Once the immediacy of the event dissipated, so has the coverage and so has any intensity in funding repairs.
Timber bridges longevity is predicated on maintenance, tonnage and location (the drier the better)…Our forum member that works out on the Cimmaron Valley Ry has some bridges built in 1913 and 1926 that are long in the tooth and still servicable.
Spalling concrete and rusty paint do not make bridges unsafe all by themselves. Decay, to some degree is normal. Leave the judgement calls to the experts.
Steve14: Musta lost you in Chicago earlier this week along with RWM. A belated Hi! from here.
I was there but it was very hectic. Committee meetings, working registration, presenting, working on the Bridge Inspection Seminar final prepartions.
Not aware of any Amtrak timber bridges on the NEC but there may be a few approach spans. Out here we still have a couple bridges with timber approaches that we run Caltrain over along with the UP. Those spans are about 70+ years old now. As you say, it all comes down to maintenance, tonnage and location.