Northwest mudslide season begins

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fairviewroad said:
At least Sounder trains aren't affected by this one.
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Well, it looks like Sounder North gets its very own mudslide ... so the EB and Cascades North are affected too.

2nd mudslide hits BNSF tracks in W. WashingtonHeavy rains and winds caused two mudslides Monday on Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks in Western Washington.

The first at 1:30 a.m. covered tracks with mud, rocks and trees in the Nisqually area north of Olympia.

Spokesman Gus Melonas (mel-OWN'-us) says the second at 11:30 a.m. covered slide-prone tracks in Everett where monitors were watching for it.

While the mudslides can be quickly cleared for freight trains, Amtrak and Sound Transit Sounder passenger trains must observe a 48-hour safety moratorium before then can resume travel.
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A trifecta.

Mudslide derails BNSF train in W. WashingtonA mudslide has derailed a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train just south of Everett.

BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says the slide came off a 100-foot slope and struck the train at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, in the same area where a slide covered the tracks earlier in the day. Seven cars were derailed. They were carrying various types of freight, including small packages of disinfectant and chemicals used in cleaning supplies and fertilizer.

...

The tracks are expected to remain closed for freight trains at least until tomorrow, and Amtrak and Sound Transit Sounder passenger trains must observe a 48-hour safety moratorium before then can resume travel.
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#7(16) is terminating in SPK in the morning and will be turning back as #8(17). The #28 and #27 trains will operate as normal. Unfortunately, the #28 will still need to sit and wait for #7s equipment to be wyed and serviced. Probably looking at a departure eastbound around 5:00 - 5:30am.
 
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CHamilton said:
winterskigirl said:
I was on train # 517 southbound to Seattle last night & glad we weren't derailed.
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Yes, you were lucky. This is the first time I've heard about an actual derailment due to a mudslide. Of course, 517 wasn't running today due to trackwork anyway.
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...and they will just use that as an excuse to extend the 48 hour rule to 72 sarcasm of course.
 
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Trogdor said:
Something to think about for those that whine about passenger train moratoriums.
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Can we see a time-lapse video of the next 48 hours at that same location? Or are you suggesting that

the line simply be shut down when heavy rain is in the forecast? The latter would actually make more

sense, in a way, than arbitrarily shutting down a line once the danger is past.
 
fairviewroad said:
Trogdor said:
Something to think about for those that whine about passenger train moratoriums.
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Can we see a time-lapse video of the next 48 hours at that same location? Or are you suggesting that

the line simply be shut down when heavy rain is in the forecast? The latter would actually make more

sense, in a way, than arbitrarily shutting down a line once the danger is past.
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Once a mudslide occurs, the danger is not past. The occurrence of the mudslide indicates that the soil moisture content has reached the point where the slopes are unstable. Mudslides in other areas are considered a greater likelihood because one has has already occurred. Waiting 48 hours after the last mudslide, admittedly an arbitrary duration but one based on a degree of geotechnical science, provides some assurance that the soil has dried and the slopes have re-stabilized.
 
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Rant warning.

This slide zone in Mukilteo is about 6 miles from where I am sitting right now. It has always been a problem but the last two years have been ridiculous. EVERY time we get a heavy rain the last couple of years that thing slips. And it is not like we don't get heavy rain here in the winter, so the thing sliding really shouldn't be any kind of surprise.

BNSF deals with it by clearing it and moving on. Except for this time when it derailed a train, the let it slide and clear it approach apparently doesn't interfere with their freight movement excessively or they would have invested in a fix themselves.

However, it is providing a big, fat target for local talk show hosts and politicians railing against Sound Transit. They maintain that it has a massive per passenger trip subsidy (don't recall what it is, think I have heard up to $30) and then it doesn't even run. There is a investment plan with public money to fix/mitigate it, but they need to get it underway. It always makes the local news.

Of course, the fact I am taking the Empire Builder east tomorrow and don't want to bustituted to Spokane doesn't have anything to do with my feelings on the subject ;)
 
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Ditto on the rant. It seems like everyone knows it should be fixed, but there's a game of chicken going on regarding who will pay:

-- the property owners above the tracks who've been removing trees, thus causing the bluffs to become unstable after more than a hundred years.

-- the feds, who aren't in a hurry to throw money at this because it isn't sexy.

-- the state, which just barely manages to fund a little bit of passenger rail, but is much more interested in mega-highway projects like the Seattle tunnel and the Columbia River Crossing.

-- the railroad, which figures if they continue doing nothing, they'll get the above stakeholders to cough up to fix their RoW.

Right now, BNSF holds all the cards, except maybe that they want approval for expanded capacity to export coal. What a mess.
 
PRR 60 said:
fairviewroad said:
Trogdor said:
Something to think about for those that whine about passenger train moratoriums.
Click to expand...
Can we see a time-lapse video of the next 48 hours at that same location? Or are you suggesting that

the line simply be shut down when heavy rain is in the forecast? The latter would actually make more

sense, in a way, than arbitrarily shutting down a line once the danger is past.
Click to expand...
Once a mudslide occurs, the danger is not past. The occurrence of the mudslide indicates that the soil moisture content has reached the point where the slopes are unstable. Mudslides in other areas are considered a greater likelihood because one has has already occurred. Waiting 48 hours after the last mudslide, admittedly an arbitrary duration but one based on a degree of geotechnical science, provides some assurance that the soil has dried and the slopes have re-stabilized.
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Good gracious, if dry soil is a pre-requisite for running trains through this area then you may as well shut down the tracks from October through April each year.
 
Crazy coincidence that someone had a video camera pointed right at the slide zone before it started moving. Makes for good news footage.

I wonder if it would work to dynamite the trouble spots during saturated conditions, kind of like they do with avalanches at ski resorts. Trigger the slides, clean up the mud, then let the trains roll...
 
And the chances for getting state money to do something about the mudslides just got dimmer.

Gregoire proposes new fuel tax to fund educationOLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed higher taxes on gas, soda, candy and gum Tuesday in order to avoid more government cuts and to help fund education in response to a court order.

...

The new wholesale tax on gasoline and diesel fuel - paid by refineries but likely passed on to drivers - would eventually rise to 4.62 percent. The governor also wants to extend taxes on beer and business taxes paid by doctors, lawyers, accountants and others.

...

Washington state governor-elect Jay Inslee will take office in January facing a projected $900 million deficit for the next two-year budget ending in mid-2015.

...

Inslee has said he will not raise taxes. Gregoire said a 2013-15 budget without taxes would have unacceptable consequences for people across the state and would hinder the state's economic recovery.
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The Nisqually area slides are fairly rare. The Everett-Seattle slides happen waaaay too often and that area is only going to get worse with sea level rise...
 
Freight train traffic resumes after WA derailmentFreight train traffic has resumed on a stretch of rail south of Everett, Wash., that was hit by a mudslide that derailed a freight train. However, a fresh mudslide has extended a moratorium on passenger train traffic in the area.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe spokesman Gus Melonas says freight traffic restarted late Tuesday afternoon after crews worked through the night to rerail one of the derailed freight cars.

Melonas says another slide hit shortly before 6 a.m. Tuesday in the same area. That means a 48-hour safety moratorium for Amtrak and Sound Transit Sounder passenger trains has been extended until Thursday morning. The moratorium affects passenger train traffic between Seattle and Everett.

The spokesman says the other six cars derailed in Monday afternoon's mudslide will be removed over the next three weeks.
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Big Green Chauvanist said:
20/20 hindsight: Would have been so much better to have built the line inland, when it could have easily been done. The area was very sparsely populated in the 1890's.
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There were inland lines. One was the SP&S line, now the Burke-Gilman Trail. Another was an interurban line, described here: http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=2667 Both are gone now. For more information, see the book Orphan Road: The Railroad Comes to Seattle, 1853-1911.
 
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