Western Railroad Discussion > Binney article in local Marysville-Yuba City paper.

Urgent rail line built at junction
By Breeana Laughlin/Appeal-Democrat

Union Pacific Railroad workers are building a connector track in Marysville for trains being routed around a burned trestle in Sacramento.

The new segment will make it easier for trains on the Oakland-to-Salt Lake City route to bypass Sacramento by taking a right turn at Binney Junction in Marysville. The trains will then head south to Roseville and back to their original route over the Sierra Nevada.

Binney Junction is where a major east-west line from Sacramento through the Feather River canyon to Nevada, Utah and points east intersects at a 90-degree angle with a major north-south line between Roseville and Portland, Ore. The new connector will allow trains to seamlessly switch lines.

The bypass comprises a 90-mile detour around the burned-out trestle. Train traffic on the lines to and from Marysville is expected to double to about 40 trains per day.

About 30 track workers have been constructing the Marysville connector around the clock since Saturday and should be finished sometime tonight, said David Wickersham, chief engineer for the Western Region of the Union Pacific Railroad.

In the meantime, eastbound trains are stopping in Marysville and locomotives are being connected to their rear to pull them down to Roseville. This process adds more than an hour to the three- to four-hour detour route, Wickersham said.

The Marysville connector will ease delays for trains making the detour.

“This will help us get our railroad back in business,” Wickersham said.

The fiery destruction of the trestle carrying a double rail line through Sacramento on Thursday forced the bypass.

“It is a suspicious fire,” Wickersham said.

“We've had tremendous help from the governor's office on down to the fire departments to help us with this disaster. Everybody from the community to state government has offered assistance to help get our tracks restored,” Wickersham said.

The rebuilding process is expected to cost $25 million to $30 million.

The first rebuilt line through Sacramento should be finished in about 14 days, Wickersham said. This will lessen the amount of train traffic through Marysville.

“Then, after we complete the second track bridge in a month and a half, the train levels will be back to what we had before,” Wickersham said.

Appeal-Democrat reporter Breeana Laughlin can be reached at 749-4724. You may e-mail her at blaughlin@appeal-democrat.com.

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/2007/03/18/news/local_news/news2.txt

The interesting aspect to this is that the Appeal's building is about 200 yards from Binney Junction.

...and they didn't report on the goings-on until a few days into the construction.