(The following article by Stacie Hamel was posted on the Omaha World-Herald website on September 13.)
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The last level of a triple-decker railroad bridge is now open here, eliminating a stop-and-go rail intersection that affected 130 trains a day.
The $60 million Argentine “flyover” was built on the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co.’s main east-west line above a Union Pacific bridge. Below the two bridges is the four-way stop, where BNSF’s north-south and east-west lines intersect.
“Trains were having to stop and take turns going through that four-way intersection,” BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg said, standing near the west end of the new bridge. “Now, with this bridge, the east-west trains basically are flying over the north-south trains.”
The two-mile-long Argentine Connection – just west of the Kansas-Missouri state line – will help speed the high-priority intermodal freight carried on BNSF’s Chicago-Southern California route. The double-tracked bridge is named for the railroad’s nearby Argentine rail yard.
BNSF’s north-south line connects the Pacific Northwest and upper Midwest with the Southeast and Gulf regions.
The bridge was funded through bonds issued in Missouri and in Wyandotte County, Kan. The Kansas City Terminal Railway Co., a consortium of railroads that operate in the area, will repay the bonds over 20 years.
The flyover is the second to open in the Kansas City area since 2000. The three-mile Sheffield Junction bridge cost $74 million and was a collaboration of five railroads, including BNSF and U.P.
Burlington Northern said Kansas City is the second-busiest rail center, with about 400 trains passing through each day. Chicago generally is considered the nation’s busiest.