Bridge fire in Illinois affects 2 Amtrak trains

[Superliner Diner]

The major bridge fire mentioned in the Commuter forum has to have affected Amtrak's Illini and City of New Orleans trains, as they run on the CN freight tracks adjacent to the Metra Electric commuter line. An overhead view from a news helicopter showed 6 tracks hanging in mid-air where the bridge once was. That takes in the Metra Electric tracks as well as the freight tracks over which those two Amtrak trains run.

This morning's City of New Orleans arrival (Train #58) could not have made it beyond Homewood. For the City and the Illini to serve Chicago in the very near future, a suitable detour will have to be found for these trains until the bridge is replaced.

 

[Superliner Diner]

Updated information in this article in the Chicago Tribune says that Amtrak's City of New Orleans and Illini trains will operate on a detour route, making their trips one hour longer. Since they say that no station will be missed, then to serve Homewood it will require a very interesting detour route over freight rail lines -- rare mileage indeed !! To view the above article, you need to have registered for free.

 

[Steve4031]

Well, if it is still in effect in July, I may take Amtrak down to my sister's house in Urbana to collect the mileage.

 

[Viewliner]

How long will it take to fix the damage? Its good they found a decent detour, so nobody will really be pissed off.

 

[Superliner Diner]

How long will it take to fix the damage? Its good they found a decent detour, so nobody will really be pissed off.

METRA is saying July 2nd, which is the middle of next week. Presumably they want to be up and running for the holiday fireworks and other festivities, such as A Taste of Chicago. That means getting the bridge totally rebuilt in about 9 days, which would be a monumental and herculean task considering that they first have to clear the area of debris from the old structure.

But that is METRA's side of the bridge, 2 of the 6 tracks. CN ran on a separate structure next to the METRA side, and theirs was 4 tracks at that point. AMTRAK will rely on CN getting their bridge rebuilt, as I don't think it would be possible for AMTRAK to use METRA's tracks and then switch back to the CN side.

Apparently the detour they are using is similar to the one that the Cardinal uses on a regular basis, over several railroads including the UP and METRA's Orland Park line (ex-Norfolk Southern, ex-N&W, ex-Nickel Plate). That means backup moves, stopping for permission to enter each new railroad, etc. I'll bet the delays are far more than one hour.

 

[gswager]

How big is the bridge?

 

[Superliner Diner]

How big is the bridge?

How big was the bridge? Probably several hundred feet long, and as I said it was actually two parallel bridges, one two-track bridge for METRA and the other 4-track bridge for CN (which also carried the Amtrak trains).

This line is a gem, because when Illinois Central owned everything, they wisely segregated their commuter operations from their freight mainline. The separation meant more when IC electrified the commuter rail line in the 1920's.