Western Railroad Discussion > NS bridge Grand River Brunswick, MO 10-1-19

10-1-19
Norfolk Southern service has been suspended between Moberly and Kansas City, Missouri, due to debris (caused by heavy rains) striking and taking out the Grand River Bridge in Brunswick, Missouri.

Norfolk Southern personnel was there witness severity of the damage as it happen

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Amazing. I think I would have stepped back from the track when the bridge girder sections started to topple.

Ouch! Brunswick was the former junction with the now long abandoned N&W branch to Council Bluffs, IA.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

Dang it we left the truck on the other side of the river...

Posted from iPhone

Hell of a thing to watch.

wonder if they are detouring over the BNSF.
MILW86A

Wow - pretty wild video!!  Thanks for sharing.

Nitpicking a bit:  The cause of the bridge failure wasn't debris striking the bridge and taking it out - it was the immense pressure of the water backing up behind all the debris that was caught up against the bridge that eventually caused the bridge to fail.

rbenko Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nitpicking a bit:  The cause of the bridge
> failure wasn't debris striking the bridge and
> taking it out - it was the immense pressure of the
> water backing up behind all the debris that was
> caught up against the bridge that eventually
> caused the bridge to fail.

I am curious if in the rush to get the line back in service, NS will also come up with a replacement bridge which is less susceptible to forming debris dams.
 

MILW86A Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wonder if they are detouring over the BNSF.
> MILW86A

I would guess they will route some of the traffic down to STL then up the Brooklyn District to Decatur, but that's just an assumption.
  -Caleb

This occured West of Moberly at Brunswick MO. Moberly is where the lines split from Kansas City one to Decatur and the other to St Louis.  My guess is they will detour on the UP from KC to St Louis or run on the KCS (ex C&A ex GM&O ex ICG ex CM&W ex GWWR) from Mexico Mo. to St Louis.

Sneebly

Sneebly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This occured West of Moberly at Brunswick MO.
> Moberly is where the lines split from Kansas City
> one to Decatur and the other to St Louis.  My
> guess is they will detour on the UP from KC to St
> Louis or run on the KCS (ex C&A ex GM&O ex ICG ex
> CM&W ex GWWR) from Mexico Mo. to St Louis.
>
> Sneebly

Agree.  More likely this traffic would be routed over more parallel UP or KCS. 

Did UP ever exercise their trackage rights on this line? 

Detours on the BNSF Brookfield sub ...

Regards,
Burlington John

So all that debris is just heading downstream toward another bridge.  Which one is next?

Bill G.
Tulsa, OK

TTownTrains Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So all that debris is just heading downstream
> toward another bridge.  Which one is next?
>
> Bill G.
> Tulsa, OK
Next bridge is at Glasgow across the Missouri. The bridge material likely won't make it far before it sinks and given the winding course of both the Grand River and the Missouri I would think that the wood debris would end up on the bank of the Grand before it hits the Missouri. Just my thought from looking at google maps.

Duane Witte
Holt, MO

Interestingly NS Service Alert of 10/1/19 said bridge outage was due to a barge strike but on 10/2/19 a Service Alert update said it was a debris strike that led to the bridge being swept away.

From 10/1/19: http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/shipping-tools/shipping-news-and-alerts/grand-river-bridge.html
From 10/2/19: http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/service-alerts/service-alert---brunswick--missouri---update.html

Update on the debris moving downstream in the Missouri River. The debris is  not expected to cause additional damage.  

http://www.newstribune.com/news/local/story/2019/oct/03/railroad-debris-floats-downstream-through-area/798044/

Final run of the remaining N&W RR passenger train service between KC and St. Louis with stops in Brunwicks and Moberly, MO,  The City of Kansas City, formerly the City of St. Louis, was made on March 17, 1969 which is 50 years ago this past March 17.
 

NS says 3-4 weeks for bridge repair:

http://www.nscorp.com/content/nscorp/en/service-alerts/service-alert---brunswick--missouri---update.html

Bridge expected to re-open October 29th... not bad
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