We know that highway bridges are inspected at least once a yearly basis and given a sufficiency rating. What about Railroad bridges? Do the railroads inspect them themselves, or do they hire another entity or have a public agency do it for them?
Many railroads bridges are decades old. Some of the rail bridges over rivers are over a century old. Some of the most impressive of these old structures are those over the Mississippi, the various swing and lift bridges.
Lyon
I can only respond for the Canadian situation and that only in a limited fashion. To get an overview on the subject, go to the TSB website: tsb.gc.ca/rail/reports/2003 for the report on the CN timber trestle collapse in May, 2003 at McBride on the CN Fraser Sub. There, in Sections 1.0 and following, specifically 1.14, and Section 2.0 you will get a factual overview of the CN’s policy/practice and detail regarding inspection procedure, standards, variances from procedure/standards and organizational change as it applies in this situation (as a result of the TSB report) and I would imagine on other like types of bridges.
It is instructive and interesting reading IMHO.
Charlie
Chilliwack, BC
The FRA does not currently have bridge regulations and RRs inspect their own bridges. Some states do require annual RR bridge inspections.
FRA has had a suggested standard in place for many years, the current form being in place since 2002 called “Railroad Bridge Safety Assurance”…The Class 1’s meet or (in most cases) exceed the standard…It gets dicey when dealing with the regionals and the shortlines who do not have the financial depth or talent on hand in many cases to do even rudimentry inspections. Most will contract-out the inspections to qualified contractors or consultants with railroad expertise. Asking a non-railroader to look at railroad structures, esp. timber bridges , is whistling in the dark. Railroaders have a vested interest in what their bridges can handle and their given condition (how many times has the 286-315K issue shown up on here.)
Hoping some of the congressional abuses of TEA-21, ISTEA, etc now comes to an end with the siphoning-off of infrastructure funds to questionable beautification and trails interests now stops. (recreational use and asthetics do not equate with Efficiency - the “E” in the acronyms…)