With Saturday’s dramatic fire put out by a multi-agency, multi-parish force, work started immediately to rebuild the burned section of the two-mile wooden train trestle over the Bonnet Carre’ Spillway.
“The fire was extinguished Saturday and early evening the local response crews left the scene Saturday and it became a construction scene,” said Canadian National (CN) Railroad spokesman Patrick Waldron. “Overnight Saturday into Sunday, the crews began to remove the damaged portions of the bridge, and Sunday morning the crews began work.”
The bridge is part of a CN rail corridor between Jackson, Miss., and New Orleans. Workers are rebuilding 800 feet of the trestle, which parallels I-10.
Waldron said the work is underway and expected to continue through this week on the bridge. He said he didn’t have a timeline for when work would be completed and service restored, as well as declined to put a dollar value on the damage.
Freight trains and Amtrack are being rerouted to CN’s rail lines between Hammond and Baton Rouge and from Baton Rouge to New Orleans.
Waldron said rail traffic on the trestle can range from four to eight trains a day.
“There is additional time, but freight operations will continue with minimal impact,” Waldron said.
On Saturday around 8:30 a.m., the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office reported getting the call from CN crew members who said the grinding equipment they were using on one of the trestles accidentally set the structure on fire and could not put it out with fire extinguishers, according to Sheriff Greg Champagne’s statement on his Facebook page.
Waldron said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The intense fire set at least one of the three trestles crossing the spillway ablaze that drew an intense response effort.
Emergency agencies responded locally and from neighboring parishes, including East St. Charles Fire Department, Norco Fire Department, St. Rose Fire Department, Bayou Gauche Fire Department, St John the Baptist Fire Department, Westwego Fire Department, Lafourche Fire Department, Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Kenner Police Department and St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The response effort included two helicopters, 11 boats with firefighting capabilities, as well as airboats.Eric Zammit, emergency coordinator with St. Charles Parish Emergency Management Center, said the area was difficult and involved a structure, but did not pose a threat to surrounding residences.
By 2 p.m., St. Charles Parish spokesman Tristan Babin said the fire had been contained, but still burning. By later Sunday evening, Babin reported the fire had been extinguished with hot spots remaining.
Waldron said CN crews also were working with emergency responders to control the fire on a section of the railroad bridge.
The age of the trestles was considered a major hurdle to the state pursuing high-speed rail.
It was estimated improving or replacing one of the three trestles over the spillway would carry the hefty price tag of $62 million.
Last year, Victor Landry, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ operations manager for the spillway, estimated the trestles were about 83 years old, although they were designed for 50 years of service life. Landry said they were still functioning, but aged.
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