(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Michael J. Crumb on May 2.)
DES MOINES, Iowa — A railroad bridge crossing the swollen Mississippi River at Burlington remained closed Friday, a day after it was struck by a grain-filled barge.
The BNSF bridge is a main rail for freight and passenger traffic and has disrupted schedules for more than 100 trains, said BNSF spokesman Steve Forsberg.
“We can’t reroute that many trains,” he said. “A train schedule is measured in days, so in this case, if you reroute, you could add more time to those schedules than just holding them until the bridge reopens.”
Amtrak’s California Zephyr, which runs from Chicago to San Francisco, travels through Iowa. Amtrak stopped the eastbound train in Mount Pleasant in southeast Iowa Thursday afternoon and 140 passengers were taken by charter bus to their destinations.
The westbound train, which left later in the day, was rerouted through Fort Madison, Iowa, about 17 miles to the south, and through Kansas City, Mo., before heading back north to Lincoln, Neb., Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.
“It’s a very, very long detour,” he said.
Magliari said Friday’s westbound train would likely take the same detour. The eastbound California Zephyr on Friday was being rerouted Friday to Boone, Iowa, then to Clinton and onto Chicago.
Magliari said Amtrak would wait until later in the day to determine the status of the train for Saturday.
“We’re waiting for word from BNSF,” he said.
Forsberg, the BNSF spokesman, said crews tried to sink the barge that was pinned against the bridge, but were unsuccessful. It only sank to a certain level before stopping.
He said crews would begin vacuuming out the grain from inside the barge and inspect the piers for damage.
“If things go well, we’ll begin running trains on the rail at restricted speeds later today,” Forsberg said Friday morning.
The bridge was closed early Thursday morning after several barges broke away from a staging area upstream. Three barges struck a pier on the U.S. Highway 34 bridge that connects Burlington and Gulfport, Ill.
While the train bridge remained closed, the highway bridge, also called the Great River Bridge, was closed for more than 12 hours before reopening by mid-afternoon on Thursday.
Officials with the Iowa Department of Transportation said inspectors found only minor blemishes on the pier where the barges hit, saying it appeared it was only a glancing blow.
No damage was found on the bridge’s deck or cabling system.
The Coast Guard was investigating how the barges broke free, but Lt. Cmdr. Tim Whalen said it appeared the level of the river — more than five feet above flood stage — and the swift current and debris in the water were contributing factors.