(The following story by Tim Christie appeared on The Register-Guard website on November 16.)
EUGENE, Ore. — Federal railroad engineers have confirmed that tunnels along a 120-mile short line between Coquille and Eugene are in dangerously bad repair and subject to failure.
The report, released Thursday by U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio’s office, was based on an inspection of three tunnels by engineers from the Federal Railroad Administration and Federal Highway Administration.
They found rotting timbers supporting crumbling rock, creating “unsafe conditions” that make the tunnels “hazardous to train traffic and maintenance operations.”
The report confirms the conclusions of private engineers hired by RailAmerica, the parent company of the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad, that led to the railroad company shutting down the line in September on 24 hours notice.
RailAmerica said Wednesday that repairing the line will cost $23 million. It wants the Union Pacific Railroad, the state Department of Transportation, the Oregon International Port of Coos Bay and the companies who ship goods on the short line to help pay for repairs.
The federal engineers walked through tunnel 13, near Mapleton, and tunnels 15 and 18, near Florence, on Oct. 9. They compared their findings to those of engineers from Shannon and Wilson Inc., who were hired by the railroad and inspected the tunnels in March and July.
“The team evaluation substantially validates the findings documented in the Shannon and Wilson report,” wrote Gordon Davids, chief engineer for structures with the Federal Railroad Administration. In fact, some conditions have worsened since the original report due to the passage of time and because of the onset of the rainy season, he wrote.
The tunnels were built in the 1880s and rebuilt about 1914. The main problems were rotting cedar timbers, lagging and footing blocks, especially in the wetter areas of the tunnels. The timbers have “reached the end of their useful life and can no longer provide adequate support,” he wrote. Tunnels 13 and 15, in particular, are both at “high risk of tunnel support failure and rock-fall hazard to train and maintenance traffic,” Davids wrote.
DeFazio said the report confirms safety problems, but doesn’t change his position that the state and the Port of Coos Bay should look at taking over the line.