Burned Rail Trestle Halts Amtrak Service
By AARON C. DAVIS
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – A 300-foot stretch of an elevated railroad trestle destroyed by an intense fire could take weeks to repair, disrupting commuter and freight service in California’s capital city, officials said Friday.
Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said the railroad would use buses along the route on Friday, and may have to suspend rail service on the damaged portion of track indefinitely.
“It’ll be long-term,” Cole said of the repairs.
No trains were involved in the blaze that began late Thursday and then fueled by the creosote-soaked trestle. Flames could be seen from more than 50 miles away. Before nightfall, the wall of smoke extended an estimated 2,000 feet into the air.
The cause of the fire was under investigation. The trestle keeps trains elevated above local roads and a wetlands area just north of the American River.
The spectacle drew hundreds of curious pedestrians from nearby hotels and stores, and crippled rush-hour traffic. The fire also burned near power lines and cut power to some local stores.
Railroad workers began tearing down parts of the trestle that collapsed under the intense heat late Thursday night, said Sacramento Fire Capt. Jim Doucette.
Firefighters had extinguished about 75 percent of the blaze by midnight and expected the flames to go out by Friday morning, he said.
One firefighter was treated for a minor head injury, Doucette said. No other injuries were reported.
The fire halted Amtrak service throughout the city. About 130 passengers were stranded on a train in Roseville, a suburb northeast of the capital, for nearly five hours, Cole said.
Freight traffic also was stalled by the blaze. “It certainly is one of our main lines,” Union Pacific spokesman James Barnes told The Sacramento Bee.
Christian Pebbles, a Sacramento Fire Department spokesman, told KCRA-TV that the relatively remote location of the fire made it difficult for firefighters. There were no water hydrants nearby.
Firefighters, however, used what water they could get to the site to make a defensive stand near a levee on the American River, Pebbles said. They also used firefighting boats to spray water on the burning trestle and keep the blaze from spreading to a railroad bridge over the river.