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.
If you are looking to the west (left), that is the old Western Pacific bridge, which will be hosting all the traffic until the replacement is complete.
UP has been doing a lot of track work on the Donner line. I work next to the westbound track in Auburn and don’t see any trains till 5pm or later. A maintenance crew passed through working on the track about two weeks ago. UP may have already been routing most westbound trains through the feather river instead of Donner anyway. The SP line is also single tracked between Marysville and Roseville with three train length sidings. Could make for some interesting train spotting.
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.
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!
I saw a train today with some unusual cars (86’ boxcars), a source at UP says it is a MSTNPX (Stockton to North Platte). It must be detouring over the LA&SL. A detour through Binney Junction is nothing, relatively speaking.
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.
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.
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.
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!.
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.
It is truely amazing what men and machines can do! You can bet they were working 24/7 til it was finished…UP probably pulled several B&B gangs together to finish this like they did…Danny
…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.
