(The Associated Press circulated the following article on December 15.)
SALEM, Ore. — The railroad tunnel under the Siskiyou Summit remains closed to traffic more than a year after a fire caused portions of it to collapse.
“We’ve had one setback after another,” said Dan Lovelady, general manager for Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad.
Lovelady estimates that the cost of reconstruction will reach $10 million, and the cost of lost business will end up between $2 million and $3 million before it is re-opened, probably in the spring.
The railroad connects Weed, Calif., to Eugene, serving numerous wood products firms in the region. While trains still can get to California, but it requires a long route through Eugene and Klamath Falls, making it uneconomical for many Southern Oregon firms.
Tom Rhea, plant manager for Timber Products plywood manufacturer in Grants Pass, said his company has spent an extra $500,000 in transportation costs since the fire.
Before the collapse, most of the veneer used by the company was shipped by rail from northern California, about 17 rail cars per week. Since the collapse, the company needs about 50 truckloads per week.
“We had been getting veneer by truck for 30 years, then we get a good system going with the railroad, and the tunnel collapses,” Rhea said. “The railroad gives us a competitive edge that we lost.”
A fire of unknown origin caused the collapse Nov. 17, 2003, near the north end of the 3,100-foot tunnel. The fire eventually burned all of the old wooden supports the length of the tunnel, Lovelady said. It wasn’t completely extinguished until March.
As construction crews dug and cleared out collapsed rock and soil and installed steel arches, more material caved in, said project engineer Matt Needles with Milbor-Pita Associates of Seattle.
“After 45 years of doing this kind of work, this is the worst I’ve seen,” Needles said.
Crews also are hampered by lack of space to stack materials near the north end and by weather problems.