Western Railroad Discussion > UP Brazos River Bridge Repairs & Reopening

Last week saw much progress as crews continued to work 24/7 to return the damaged Brazos River bridge to service on UP’s Sunset Route southwest of Houston.  Early reports were that the bridge could remain closed until early July but workers were able to open the bridge to traffic on the afternoon of Wednesday June 22.  A 10 mph speed restriction is in place while additional work is completed and traffic levels are returning to normal.  Here is another series of photos showing the events from the past week.  Enjoy!

1). The closure of UP’s bridge over the Brazos River in Richmond caused Amtrak’s Sunset Ltd to detour via the BNSF in order to serve the far eastern portion of its route.  The train accessed BNSF’s Galveston Sub at the interlocker in Rosenberg just a few miles west of the river running to Houston where it rejoined UP rails and its original routing to New Orleans.  On Sunday June 19th Train 2 backs off the Sunset Route and onto the BNSF at the old Tower 17 interlocker in Rosenberg.

2). Having been cleared by the BNSF DS and with a pilot onboard Train 2 departs Rosenberg on BNSF rails through the CP SA036 interlocker.  Behind the equipment cabinets on the left is where Tower 17 stood until the UP merger.  One of the oldest and last operating manned towers in the state the structure was moved and restored at the Rosenberg Railroad Museum behind the camera.    

3). Workmen on the damaged pier prepare the top portion for demolition as the large yellow girder suspends both steel and concrete bridge ends above them.  Angled steel pilings are being driven to augment the supports of the concrete approach trestle and the large white Terex-American HC165 crane is being fitted for the concrete demolition.

Tom Kline
Houston
 

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4). Large chunks of concrete fall from the top portion of the damaged pier to make room for repairs.  Hanging in a basket suspended from the white American-Terex HC165 crane a BROKK 250 demolition robot with jackhammer attachment chisels away the old concrete.  The tiny three-ton four wheel un-manned hydraulic machine with telescopic boom is remotely controlled by the operator wearing the green safety vest standing on a new concrete bent atop new pilings.  All the old concrete above the spray-painted red line will be removed to make room for new support girders.  

5). On the evening of Wednesday June 22 passengers in the sightseer lounge on the westbound Sunset Ltd get a good look at the construction area around the Brazos River bridge which re-opened just a few hours earlier.  The sinking pier remains in place flanked by new pilings and girders supporting both bridge ends.  The yellow platform was built to allow large cranes to work out over the river.

6). A closer view of the new and old piers from the north side of the bridge.  The old pier remains in place with its top portion reduced to large chunks of broken concrete.   A new multiple girder beam straddles the old pier with new concrete bents and steel pilings supporting it on either side.

Tom Kline
Houston
 

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7).  Marking what was once the high water level several hundred feet away from the sinking pier and river a track spike hangs suspended by a rope about nine feet off the ground on the west side of the Brazos River.  This is at the far end of the four span river crossing and the construction site can be seen in the background.

8). A view along the multiple spans on the west bank of the river towards the construction site.  A close look reveals support piers of varying construction-the closest one is formed concrete while further out the pier is large rough-cut stone with a concrete cap.  In the river channel the center pier is made up of entirely stone bricks.  The peak water level here was just below the top cap of the nearest pier and the horizontal metal supports once held a lineside pole, like in the background.

9). On Thursday June 23rd UP’s M-EWWC [Manifest-Englewood Yd (Houston) to West Colton] eases across the repaired spans at 10 mph on the first full day of the bridge being open to traffic.  In addition to the obvious new support over the sinking pier, new pilings have been added back along the eroding bank to augment the stability of the concrete approach trestle.

Tom Kline
Houston
 

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10). After the sun has set on the first full day of operation the headlight of an eastbound UP manifest illuminates the inside of the center span over the Brazos River on Thursday June 23rd.  An area once teeming with workers laboring round the clock and lit up like daylight is all dark and quiet now that the bridge is back in service.

11). Easing through a 10mph slow order in the dark of night just hours after the bridge reopened UP ES44AC-H 8134  tiptoes across with a westbound stack train in tow.

12). JB Hunt and Pacer stacks blur across the Brazos River during a time exposure of a UP westbound crossing the newly reopened bridge in the wee hours of Thursday June 23rd .

Tom Kline
Houston
 

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13). The flash of FRED marks the blurred passage of rear well cars during a time-exposure of an eastbound UP intermodal crossing the Brazos River at 10 mph on the night of Thursday June 23rd.  Once a beehive of activity 24/7 only a single work light illuminates the area for the benefit of the lone remaining security guard trying to stay awake.

14). Not only were UP operations affected with the closure of this bridge, other area railroads were too.  Through long-standing trackage rights agreements the BNSF uses a portion of the Sunset Route for additional access to Houston to augment their own routes into the city.   Here a BNSF grain train returning empty from the Port of Houston crosses the Brazos River with headlights dimmed in the early morning hours of Friday June 24th.  

15). Another railroad affected was the KCS who uses the Sunset Route to connect to home rails between Beaumont and Rosenberg.  Crawling through the empty work area a single GE leads a southbound manifest bound for Laredo on the border with Mexico.

Hope you enjoyed the show.
Tom Kline
Houston
 

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Superb pictures of the project - thanks!

Ray

Interesting stuff....!!  Thanks.....

GREAT POSTING and report.  It is amazing how fast the railway came up with repair plan and put it all into motion.   Doug

Thank you for following this story. Very interesting repair project.
Lane
 

"When the going gets tough, the tough get going"! There is a lot of great Engineering and knowledgable comstruction management evident in these images! It continues to amaze me that the railroads and the engineering firms & contractors that they hire can respond and execute to complete something like this as promptly as they do! I spent 42 years in the construction industry and I would have loved to be involved in something like this!!!
Thank you for documenting this project and sharing it!

Old Bob out in Lost Wages

Great story and pictures.  Thanks for sharing your extensive knowlege of what the equipment was and what they were doing.  I look forward to being able to see the finished product when I next have to go to Rosenburg.

First, a huge thanks to Mr. Kline for excellent coverage.

Second, it is amazing how UP as a company seems to bungle along and survive in spite of their own perceived ineptness at times, can come together when something major happens like this or the bridge fire near Sacramento and get things repaired/rebuilt and get the line re-opened in what seems like record time. Feats such as this show UP really does have some very competent, almost gifted, people employed who can perform miracles when required.

Tom, thank you for the excellent photos and narrative! Glad to be done with the re-routes ahead of schedule.

Great photos.
Congrats on the creativity for the repairs.
t4p.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/16 08:33 by TCnR.

Hats off to the UP Engineering folks who pulled this off. Great coverage of the event!

There is a logical answer to why the UP or almost any company or agency can do excellent work in an emergency but stumble repeatedly trying to do ordinary operations.
In an emergency there is a temporary suspension of rules about contracting, accounting, personnel assignments, and environmental impacts.
Any violations of these rules is documented so they can be mitigated with whatever fine, time claim, or repair/restoration is needed after the emergency is over.
Another thought:
These emergency situations are where the UP (and others) get a chance to learn the true leadership abilities of their personnel. 
Too much of the time managers are graded on percentage of goals and cost savings only.
Again, thanks for posting, I learned a lot.

Is the 10 mph speed limit a permanent one or are they going to do more work to get the speed limit back up again.  Dan

Tom - Outstanding series of reports and photographs. Nice going.

Paul Brennecke
Golden, CO

Let me add my thanks for your most interesting and
educational post and photos.

I just want to add my thanks for all of your excellent postings on this incident.  Your coverage of the flooding and the on-going recovery and replacement operations have been outstanding.  Factual information is always appreciated and aids tremendously in understanding what happened and what is currently on-going.  Thanks again!

Mike Huie