Western Railroad Discussion > UP bridge in Tempe restored, trains running.

The railroad bridge over Tempe Town Lake that partially collapsed after a train derailment last month was back in service late Wednesday.

On Thursday morning, a Union Pacific freight train with dozens of cars slowly headed north across the bridge.

A Union Pacific spokesperson had said earlier this week that they expected to be back in operation Friday. They came in ahead of schedule.

The reopening came two weeks after a portion of the bridged collapsed on July 29 when a freight train derailed, sending a few cars to the ground below.

Union Pacific officials were eager to get the line back in service as the derailment prevented most of the company's freight shipments coming in and out of metro Phoenix.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2020/08/13/tempe-town-lake-railroad-bridge-back-service-after-partial-collapse/3370402001/

Good for them!
 

It amazes me how the railroad can restore service so quickly.  Compare that to the highway departments.  I think of a culvert washout under a two-lane road in my county a few years ago.  It happened in the spring.  Basically, the works department had to clear the debris away, dump some rock in place, install a large culvert pipe, and build up the dirt over it to grade level.  The school system was wondering if the work would be completed by the time school started in the fall so that they knew how to schedule the school busses.  The road was out of service for four months.  I know theres more to it than what I outlined but gee, four months to do what the railroad would have done in a week.

John

Government Work shows up again. The railroads are much better prepared and have a lot of material ready to go. Meanwhile the governments have to redesign it using people that usually could not hold a real commerical job.

Don Allender

ATSFSuperChief Wrote:
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> Government Work shows up again. The railroads are
> much better prepared and have a lot of material
> ready to go. Meanwhile the governments have to
> redesign it using people that usually could not
> hold a real commerical job.
>
> Don Allender

Absolutely!

In spite of the UP having to wait for some unknown local "judge" to tell them they could finish the project they pulled it off ahead of schedule even after they kissed the judges ass and gave her an extra day for her "decision".

Wonder how it would have gone if she said NO! I'll bet the train s would be running in spite of her!

SW-1



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/20 21:41 by EMDSW-1.

Any pictures of the new UP structure?
 

czuleget Wrote:
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> Any pictures of the new UP structure?
>  

See the azfamily.com link at this thread:
https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,5083557
 

Great job.

Here's the link copied over, great helicopter footage:

https://www.azfamily.com/news/train-rolls-across-tempe-bridge-two-weeks-after-derailment-bridge-collapse-fire/article_48def99c-dd96-11ea-a621-3788cda6ea98.html