Bridge collapse in Minneapoils

From the telvision reports I've seen there is a rail line that is under the bridges that fell....Anyone know which line it is and which railroads might be effected?

I saw that there were hoppers on the ground, too.

Naturally, this is a major tragedy for those involved, and the railroad is about 255th on the list of important parts of this saga.

Just getting that out of the way before someone beats me to it.

David Becker

Dave....I wasn't trying to minimize the extent of the tragedy...It is indeed a very tragic situation.

It's a wee after one in the AM CDT.

There are seven dead at this point, and, I'm sure that number will rise as recovery efforts continue.

As has been noted, there are a number of cars (not sure of the exact number) crushed under one of the sections of colapsed roadway. I'm also not sure if this is a BNSF or CP line... although, having driven over the area a time or two... it probably is a BNSF line (don't quote me on that).

Now...

As tragic as the event is, let's keep this focused on BNSF (you may express condolences, etc., but please keep the topic focused on the railroad...). I'm sure they'll have crews out to re-rail the remaining cars and will have divergent routes in place to keep traffic flowing. The line will be closed indefinately, as they have to wait for the investigation and inspections to be completed and the debris removed.

Hopefully one of my fellow "Gophers" can fill us in on what line it is, who's line it is, how many hoppers may be under the wreckage, what detours are being put into place, etc..

Trainwayne1, I promise I wasn't being nasty with you. Each time something like this happens, and someone asks about the trains involved, there is always someone that chimes in that since people died, the trains mean nothing. I was heading that off at the pass. Sorry if you took offense.

Dave Becker

Here's a more important question about the rail line...( I truly hope it wasn't BNSF's line, personally...)...could the vibration from heavy freights passing under the bridge have had a detrimental effect on the supports and caused this tragedy? I saw the hoppers(including the one pancaked by the bridge), and a tank car....I'm assuming nothing hazardous... and considering the proximity to the bridge of that line, that's a line of investigation they'll probably be looking into.

Truck traffic on the bridge, wind, cold winters, salt corrosion, deferred maintenance, etc. are all factors that exponentially outweigh anything freights vibrating underneath the bridge could have done to help it fail. I'm sure there's a nimby or two who would like to invent a connection though.
It's a good thing those were hoppers under the bridge instead of chlorine tankers. Chlorine fumes are heavier than air and would have sunk down the riverbank and jacked up the death toll.

In fact, there were large tank cars on the next track behind the covered hoppers; one is under the bridge and the crushed hoppers protected the tank cars to a degree. They appear to be the type that might carry chlorine or more likely propane. In that sense, they got pretty lucky.

The storage tracks under the I-35W bridge are part of the Minnesota Commercial Railway.