Railroad damaged in Sacramento fire could take weeks to repair

Railroad damaged in Sacramento fire could take weeks to repair:

03-16 09:28 PDT SACRAMENTO, (AP) --

Union Pacific on Friday assembled cranes, front-end loaders and other construction equipment to begin demolishing charred sections of a 300-foot elevated trestle, parts of which were still burning a day after it caught fire.

The intense blaze, which began late Thursday, disrupted daily passenger and freight rail traffic that runs through the state capital. Union Pacific, which owns the railroad lines, said repair work could begin as early as this afternoon after fire officials complete a routine arson investigation.

"We stand ready," Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes said. "Right now we're assessing how much of the structure is viable."

Although Sacramento firefighters were able to stop the fire from spreading to a nearby bridge, the wooden trestle that crosses over a local bike trail and wetlands area just north of the American River, was expected to burn and smolder for a few more days.

"The wood is thick, heavy timber. You can put all the water in the world on it and it's burrowing down into the wood," said Sacramento Fire Capt. Jim Doucette.

Amtrak officials said it could be two weeks or more before repairs are completed. Until then, passengers on its roundtrip daily service between Auburn and Sacramento will be bused. The other daily train, from Emeryville to Chicago, will be rerouted and will run two hours late, Amtrak spokeswoman Tracy Connell said.

"It's a pretty good service disruption," Connell said. "We're accommodating passengers as best we can and getting them to their destinations as close to on time as possible."

About 130 passengers were stranded Thursday on a train in Roseville, a suburb northeast of the capital, for nearly five hours, said Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole. Buses were brought in to bring the passengers to Sacramento.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation. About 125 city and county firefighters responded to the blaze. One firefighter's head was hit after he attempted to move a heavy sign along the shore, Doucette said.

The creosote-soaked trestle fueled an intense blaze that could be seen from more than 50 miles away. Before nightfall, the wall of smoke extended an estimated 2,000 feet into the air and bent in a giant S-curve, blanketing the capital skyline. Smoke was still billowing into the air early Friday.

The burning creosote also raised contamination concerns for the nearby American River, which flows through Sacramento. Agents from the California Department of Fish and Game were testing the water draining from the trestle as a precaution, Doucette said.

The spectacle drew a crowd of hundreds of pedestrians from nearby hotels and stores and crippled rush-hour traffic on the Capital City Freeway around Cal Expo, the state fairgrounds. The fire also burned near power lines and cut power to some local stores.

In addition to halting Amtrak service, the fire also stalled freight traffic. About 50 trains a day use the Union Pacific lines, spokesman Mark Davis said.

"All of them are being detoured on other Union Pacific routes," Davis said.