Will MRL reroute after bridge collapse?

[lock4244]

LOL, so we are trying to keep the atmosphere un-poluted, but we are happy to sell that "dirty coal" to countries like China and India, which then promptly burn it to generate more pollution.  I love it!    What an ironic double standard, but money does make world go 'round. 

Actually the coal is only dirty here. Once it crosses the Pacific it becomes clean. 

[nkalanaga]

Powder River Basin coal is much lower in sulfur than most Asian coal.  So, although it produces the same amount of carbon dioxide, it produces less immediately-harmful pollutants.  Not "clean" by any means, but cleaner than what they would be burning.

[nkalanaga]

I don't know just what they have in mind, but here's a pair of links to Montana DOT "Project Cameras" for Reed Point.  They just activated this camera Friday morning, and the fuselage was already there.  It looks like they plan on trucking them around the collapsed bridge.

I don't know just where this is, so don't know which side of the bridge it's on.  Somewhere between Reed Point and Columbus, MT.

Current images:
http://www.montanadotwebcams.com/

Sideshows, which seem to have issues.  At least on my browser, they randomly go blank, and have to be restarted!
http://video-monitoring.com/construction/mdot/slideshow.htm
Choose your camera from the images on the right, and there's an even smaller calendar icon in the upper left.

Finally, here's a cropped and reduced portion of the the last picture posted for Friday.  The cameras don't work at night!  The original images are huge.  The resolution isn't quite good enough to read the reporting marks on the flatcars, but the image size is large enough that it could be done.



That's I-90 in the foreground.  They've built an all-new interchange just for this, so apparently they feel that the frontage road isn't adequate.

[nkalanaga]

As far as I can determine, this is just east of the bridge, so they're unloading the flatcars.  The morning shadows indicate that the view is southeast, so it has to be east of the bridge.

A local TV station posted this, in an article on the asphalt cleanup:

"As for the bridge repair, Montana Rail Link has people on site doing prep work.
"We're going to reuse the eastern span," said Joe Racicot, MRL president. "Then, they're going to create some additional piers there. We're going to actually utilize some emergency spans that we have from our safety stock in conjunction with some emergency spans we're getting from BNSF as well." "

https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-news/crews-collect-asphalt-prepare-for-bridge-repair-at-derailment-site-near-reed-point

[nkalanaga]

"MRL continued to coordinate on alternative routes for train traffic to minimize impacts of the derailment on customers and the nation’s supply chain, according to the Unified Command. Additionally, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) and MRL signed an agreement allowing the regional’s train crews to run trains from Laurel to Great Falls and Great Falls to Shelby."

https://www.railwayage.com/freight/short-lines-regionals/reports-cleanup-investigation-under-way-after-bridge-collapses-under-mrl-train/

[Hawghead]

It's odd how the BNSF is doing the re-routes.  We're getting empty coal trains, some auto trains and some manifest trains going Portland to Hermiston and finally on to Cheyenne.  But at the same time I see the same trains in the Gorge on the BN side.  I wonder if they are sending some trains through the Gorge on our side just to reduce congestion through Spokane maybe?

Scott

[nkalanaga]

Possibly, although this reroute won't affect Spokane itself.  The lines come together at Sandpoint, ID, and use the same tracks between there and Spokane.

I don't know why they don't run the airplanes through Great Falls.  I doubt that there are any clearance problems, as that's been a major freight route since before the BN merger.

Along with at least one photo showing a plane, on a truck, leaving the transfer site, today's webcam images also showed what looked like two trucks carrying deck girder bridges.  I wonder if they're hauling the replacement spans in by road?  I would have assumed they'd come in by rail, as the tracks go right to the bridge.  So does the frontage road, as it's just the old highway.

[lock4244]

I don't know why they don't run the airplanes through Great Falls.  I doubt that there are any clearance problems, as that's been a major freight route since before the BN merger.

Probably any number of reasons they've chosen to truck the fuselages around the bridge. Cost is the most obvious reason behind why folks do the things they do, so the cheapest available option probably won. They'd have to verify the clearances on any detour route which could be costly and time consuming... I can't imagine they'd trust anything but verifying in the field. They may already know of clearance issues on a detour route and the cost to alleviate may be excessive given it's a temporary detour. My assumption is MRL's paying for all of this, and if they have a target for reopening the line this may be a best all round solution.

Also possible that Boeing and/or BNSF may have said no to detouring on another rail route because of reasons that are their own.

RR's make odd decisions, this may be one of them.

[nkalanaga]

Update from the Reed Point bridge collapse:

KTVQ-TV from Billings, MT: Stillwater County train derailment: Construction on bridge complete, train traffic resumes
https://www.ktvq.com/news/local-news/stillwater-county-train-derailment-construction-on-bridge-complete-train-traffic-resumes

[John]

It's interesting how fast they can build a bridge when they want to - around here construction projects take forever

[nkalanaga]

According to one of the earlier articles, all they had to build were new piers.  Those could be as simple as pilings, so wouldn't take long.  The bridges were "spares", stockpiled just for cases like this.  Once all of the permits were in place, basically a matter of plugging things together.

[John]

According to one of the earlier articles, all they had to build were new piers.  Those could be as simple as pilings, so wouldn't take long.  The bridges were "spares", stockpiled just for cases like this.  Once all of the permits were in place, basically a matter of plugging things together.

That makes sense.  Kind of like a model rr.  Just take the unitrack off the shelf and plug it in.

[nkalanaga]

Includes a picture of the new spans:
https://dailymontanan.com/briefs/yellowstone-river-at-site-of-train-derailment-to-reopen-saturday/

And this, from another Billings TV station.  The article didn't have much info, so no link.