Union Pacific altered its tunnels for more cross-Sierra cargo

[DET63]

Published: Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1A

Last Modified: Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 - 10:06 am

 

Union Pacific crews spent the last year raising the roof.

 

The task, now complete, was to gouge notches in the arched concrete roofs of 15 tunnels between Rocklin and Donner Summit so a new generation of taller, double-stacked container freight trains can squeeze through.

 

Michelangelos, they're not.

 

The historic tunnels, some more than 100 years old, look like they've had their cheeks scraped by oversized iron knuckles.

 

It's not about esthetics, UP officials said. It's about economics.

More

Comment in response:

CalHundi wrote on 12/05/2009 09:04:30 AM: 

Good for UP indeed. And good work getting it done before the environmental hate groups got wind of it. They would tie it up for decades in lawsuits for defacing historic monuments or some such nonsense. We're not out of the woods yet, though. Surely they'll be able to "prove" that the increased freight traffic has killed a polar bear.