(The following report appeared on The Parkersburg, W.Va., News & Sentinel on December 29.)
MARIETTA, Ohio — Trains rolled along the rails through the city early Saturday morning as the tracks previously shut down by a train derailment Dec. 19 were reopened.
Workers with CSX Railroad Co. installed a temporary bridge over Virginia Street that allows trains to travel to the AEP Muskingum Power Plant.
The temporary bridge will be used for several months until warmer weather permits construction of a permanent span with concrete. The first loaded trains went across the bridge at 3 a.m. Saturday.
“It’s operational and running trains,” said Kim Skorniak, spokeswoman with CSX.
Construction on the temporary span took about three days and was completed about 12 hours prior to the first train crossing the span.
A new pylon was added to the bridge to allow CSX to make the bridge without waiting for longer steel beams to be made. No structural damage was done to the pylons.
“They needed that (third pylon) to use existing steel that they had,” said Washington County Engineer Bob Badger.
Prior to the installation of the temporary bridge Badger was planning on opening Virginia Street to one way traffic with traffic coming from Ohio 7 or Ohio 550 having the right of way.
The street remained wide enough after the installation of the temporary bridge that Badger expects a two lane traffic pattern to resume once cleanup is complete.
“Before we were talking about one way traffic but now we think we’re going to be able to get two lanes through there,” Badger said.
Despite the temporary bridge being in place the street remains closed due to continued clean-up efforts by CSX.
Large portions of several of the eight wrecked train cars remain by the side of the road and until cleanup crews have removed all that debris the street cannot be opened. Work to remove the cars began early Tuesday afternoon.
After the debris is removed, CSX workers will relocate the center line for traffic and repave part of the street that was damaged when two beams speared the pavement during the derailment. The repaving was expected to be completed late Tuesday.
“The railroad has a crew down there cleaning up some of the areas,” Badger said.
The Virginia Street bridge was used to transport coal to the AEP Muskingum Power Plant for production of electricity.
A spokesperson with AEP said that the company has a stockpile of coal to prevent an event such as the derailment from having a major impact on the plant’s production, but they are still pleased the temporary bridge is in place.
“Obviously if we are able to receive coal via that bridge that is helpful,” said David Hagelin, spokesman with AEP. “Having the bridge is beneficial to us because it will ensure that our supply stays ample.”