(The following report by Mike Paluska appeared on the KRQE News 13 website on April 24. Video of this story is available at the KRQE website: http://tinyurl.com/2s7qrz)
BELEN, N.M. — The fiery destruction of a railroad bridge northwest of Belen is backing up trains not only in New Mexico but from California to Chicago.
Late this morning 69 trains were reported to be stopped dead on the tracks of the BNSF Railway waiting for the wooden trestle to be rebuilt.
With many carrying 75 to 100 shipping containers, it is estimated more than 5,000 containers are just sitting, waiting to move.
Sunday’s fire caused trains to be been laid down in California, Texas, Kansas and New Mexico on the transcontinental line BNSF calls the Transcon.
UPS is the company being hit the hardest as many its packages are among the highway trailers and trailer-size containers holding consumer goods, mail and other items.
The average train carries as much cargo as 220 trucks.
This is affecting BNSF as well as with their customers financially.
Even though the bridge has been replaced with a temporary one, it will continue to affect traffic because trains will move slower through Belen until a new steel and concrete bridge is installed.
“Belen is a major artery for the BNSF on the Transcon part from Chicago to California,” BNSF General Transportation Director Tony Sarrett said. “We fuel and inspect every train that comes through here, so it’s a major impact to the railroad as a whole.”
The temporary bridge is dirt and gravel with a culvert installed letting water pass through. By noon today the first trains were crossing the spot at reduced speed.
Fire officials and BNSF are still investigating the cause of the fire.