We couldn’t agree more.
Editorial: Rebuild and upgrade
Published 12:00 am PDT Saturday, March 17, 2007
Within hours of the fire that destroyed a train trestle outside Sacramento, Union Pacific Railroad was able to reroute its freight traffic along its Feather River line through Marysville. According to UP, the detour will add about two hours to travel time, but freight service will not have to be rerouted to Los Angeles or Portland, as many originally feared.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that the two hour detour kills Capitol Corridor passenger service from Auburn to Sacramento for the next several weeks at minimum. It is not feasible for some 300 or so train passengers from Auburn, Rocklin and Roseville who travel back and forth to work in Sacramento every day to add two hours or more to their commute times.
Until the trestle can be rebuilt, those passengers will have to transfer to buses or return to their cars. That's too bad. Over the last six years, a loyal train ridership has slowly developed along that corridor. The weeks it will take to build a new trestle threaten the passenger gains that have been made.
Beyond the delays and disruption it causes, the trestle fire exposes both the importance and the fragility of our rail infrastructure. An aging network with trestles built largely of wood more than a century ago, rail is a vital component of our transportation and cargo system. But it has been badly neglected. Massive new investment is needed.
Some 50 trains a day pulling an average of 75 cars each traveled across the wooden trestle that went up in flames Thursday. The trestle was a vital link in the primary rail line that connects the eastern United States to Sacramento and the Bay Area. In highway terms, the loss of the trestle is akin to closing down a section of Interstate 80. While it's being repaired, there will be added strain and congestion on a rail network already at capacity.
Still, the fire has created an opportunity. UP has already announced it will replace the rickety wooden structure with a steel one. The railroad hopes to have one track up and operating by April 1 and the second track by May 1. Others have suggested that the railroad working with the state might also consider expanding the trestle, adding another track or two that could match up with a new rail bridge if and when one is built across the American River.
