(The following article by Tony Bizjak was posted on the Sacramento Bee website on March 28.)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Saying work went more smoothly than expected, Union Pacific rail officials early Tuesday reopened one of two tracks destroyed nearly two weeks ago in a dramatic trestle fire near downtown Sacramento. The first freight train traveled over the new line just before 2 a.m. Tuesday, UP spokesman Mark Davis said.
Officials said they expect to have the second track at the site open by April 3, nearly a month ahead of their earlier projections. UP is constructing the new bridge with pre-fabricated materials that were shipped via truck and train to the site, and assembled.
Some 1,400 feet of the trestle was destroyed by a mysterious fire just north of the American River in Sacramento on Thursday afternoon, March 15. The cause of the blaze is under investigation, city fire officials said.
The line, which connects the Bay Area with the rest of the United States, is UP’s main freight shipping line through the Sacramento area. The forced closure of the line delayed some shipments by days as trains were held up and rerouted.
State officials gave UP a quick green light to begin reconstructing the line, saying regulatory agencies met and determined the railroad company did not need permits to begin work.
There are, however, lingering environmental and health questions outstanding in the wake of the fire. Officials say they have not yet gotten test results to determine what materials were in the smoke that wafted over Sacramento during and after the fire. Also, water and soil testing at the site is incomplete, and regulators say they expect there will be long-term cleanup issues to deal with.