Amtrak NEC Bridge on Fire

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AlanB

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Local NBC affiliate just reported with live video shots from their helicopter, that Amtrak's Portal Bridge is on fire. Both the pilings around the base of the bridge, along with many of the ties are on fire.

All NJT service as well as all Amtrak service is of course suspended at this time, 8:15 PM. No word at this point on when service might be restored, but my guess is that at a minimum it will be after tomorrow mornings rush hour. Also no word on what started the fire.
 
Just another problem that Amtrak did not need. Was that one of the projects selected for a safety rehab alan?
 
From WNBC, New York:

KEARNY, N.J. -- A fast-moving fire engulfed a railroad bridge in northern New Jersey Thursday night, disrupting New Jersey Transit and Amtrak service on the Northeast Corridor.
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The full story is HERE.

And some photos can be linked from HERE.

WNBC web has LIVE video RIGHT NOW

With thanks to PRR60, who posted this over on OTOL.
 
As my luck would have it, I suspect this bridge fire will affect my plans to use NJt to get to Penn Station in New York on Saturday. The PATH trains serve Newark Penn right? So if I could get from the newark airport station to newark Penn, I would be ok. IFRC, Kearney is between Newark Penn and New York Penn Station. Using PATH would route me around the problem.
 
Steve4031 said:
As my luck would have it, I suspect this bridge fire will affect my plans to use NJt to get to Penn Station in New York on Saturday. The PATH trains serve Newark Penn right? So if I could get from the newark airport station to newark Penn, I would be ok. IFRC, Kearney is between Newark Penn and New York Penn Station. Using PATH would route me around the problem.
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Yes, it will Steve. I mentioned the same in your topic in the commuter forum.

But stayed tuned. It's still to early to know if the bridge will be out of action for the weekend. It will depend on how hot the fire got. If it melted the steel structure, then it could be weeks. If they just need to replace ties, then they might have it up and running by Friday night.
 
Unless there was another "real" fireboat involved, the "fireboat" appeared to be something on the order of a Boston Whaler with a seltzer bottle. Well, maybe a garden hose. Sheesh. Given the magnitude of the blaze, it might as well have been a seltzer bottle. Yikes! Hats off to those firemen (and women) out there walking on rails and ties over the water to try to extinguish it. That would have been VERY hazardous duty, and they would probably have been wondering if the whole thing would collapse with them on it (yes, it was built to handle an unbelievably heavy load [trains], but that probably didn't mean much to them while they were up there)......
 
just got this from my union in a union news flash sent to me by e mail

To stay informed go to WWW.UTU.ORG

NE CORRIDOR CUT BY TRESTLE FIRE

KEARNY, N.J. -- A fast-moving fire engulfed a railroad bridge in northern New Jersey Thursday night, disrupting New Jersey Transit and Amtrak service on the Northeast Corridor, reports the Associated Press.

The fire broke out around 7:30 p.m. at the base of Amtrak's Portal drawbridge over the Hackensack River between Secaucus and Kearny. The cause was not immediately known. No injuries were reported, authorities said.

Rail service was suspended between New York's Penn Station and Newark's Penn Station. It was not clear when it would be restored.

The fire apparently started in wood pilings beneath the trestle and spread to the tracks above.

Firefighters were working to contain the blaze.

(The preceding story was published by the Associated Press)

 
Trains were moving across the Portal drawbridge spanning the Hackensack River between Kearny and Secaucus at about 5 mph.
The reduced speeds were necessary because the fire Thursday night heavily damaged signal systems over the bridge that tell trains whether it is safe to proceed or not, said NJ Transit spokesman Ken Hitchner. The bridge itself did not suffer structural damage, he said.
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The updated story from WNBC.
 
Here's the Amtrak press release:

 Updated May 13, 2005 9:30 am

Most scheduled Amtrak service in the Northeast was restored this morning. Train service had been suspended due to a fire on Amtrak’s Portal drawbridge spanning the Hackensack River between Newark, NJ and New York Thursday evening. In all, six morning Amtrak trains were canceled today, with passengers being provided alternate departures. Delays of 5-15 minutes due to continuing repair work at the bridge are expected throughout today and the weekend.

For schedule information, see www.amtrak.com or call 1-800-USA-RAIL.

Background

At approximately 8:00 p.m. EDT Thursday, May 12, a fire was reported on Amtrak’s Portal drawbridge over the Hackensack River in the New Jersey Meadows east of Newark. The fire on the steel draw bridge involved the wooden timbers and track ties. There were no injuries reported as a result of the fire, but service on the busy Washington-New York segment of the Northeast Corridor was temporarily suspended. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

During the service outage, passengers using Amtrak and New Jersey Transit trains between Newark, NJ and New York Penn Station were diverted to Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) transit service. PATH honored Amtrak tickets and ticket receipts for travel between Manhattan and Newark Penn Station.
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The full press release can be found here.
 

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