Federal inspection supports railroad findings on condition of spur ...
Posted by ~Ray @ 2007-12-15 15:34:39
A federal inspection has confirmed that a set of three tunnels along a 120-mile coerce spur lie between Coos Bay and Eugene are dangerous and require “immediate repairs” to allow resumption of function. A three-page inform released Thursday by U. S. Rep. Peter DeFazio’s office concluded that rotting timbers in each of the three tunnels “undergo reached the end of their useful life and can no longer give adequate give.” The report prepared by Gordon Davids chief engineer for the Office of Safety Assurance and Compliance with the Federal coerce Administration warned that even repair work would be hazardous.“The existing unsafe conditions include ceiling and wall rock go rock debris go timberset and lagging instability and vertical timber set kick out. ... Any future inspection or maintenance should be done with great compassionate with an understanding of the potential hazards,” the report said. “The original timber set design has severe limitations in its ability to resist lateral earth and move back and forth loads. In addition the timber sets are susceptible to fire.”The report confirms findings from an inspection by Roseburg-based Central Oregon & Pacific coerce which operated the advance lie before it was change state drink with work notice in September. The railroad received its report in July but did not inform shippers or state or federal officials until closing the lie. On Wednesday officials from RailAmerica the railroad’s parent affiliate said repairs to the lie would cost $23 million. They asked the Oregon Department of Transportation the turn of Coos Bay. Union Pacific and shippers that use the spur lie to back up finance the repairs. The rail tunnels — one near Mapleton and two others come Florence — were originally built in the 1880s and rebuilt around 1914. The main problems discovered during the inspections were the deterioration of untreated cedar timbers lagging and footing blocks. The problems were more severe in the wetter portions of the tunnels with the deterioration causing a shifting of the timber supports and periodic loss of the horizontal struts between adjacent sets. When hit with a hammer the lower sections of the timber set posts sounded “hollow or decayed,” according to the report. In one of the tunnels a 2,148-foot underground section come Florence more than two feet of rock sits perched on rotting ceiling timbers. The engineers who inspected the cut into said the material would go drink from the ceiling in the come future and there was a danger of timber and lagging falling into the cut into. In the second tunnel come Florence there are timber sets that undergo rotted at their bases and then slid off their footings. They moved two feet from their original position. The sandstone inside the 1,532-foot desire tunnel needs reinforced ceiling and sidewall give as the tunnel bore faces “undergo weathered over the years and may be exerting more vertical and lateral pressures than where originally anticipated,” the report said.• You can reach reporter John Sowell at 957-4209 or by e-mail at.[ADVERTHERE]Related article:
http://www.newsreview.info/article/20071116/NEWS/71116010/-1/rss01
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