Author photo

By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter 

Winter weather puts hold on EWGRR rail project

Most of work was finished before cold and snow came

 

Last updated 12/24/2015 at 9:24am



Just as winter slows many traditional construction projects, so it is for the rehabilitation of tracks on the Eastern Washington Gateway Railroad.

A cold snap in late November kept crews from finishing replacement of old ties and additional work on the roadbed for the 6.9-mile stretch of track that runs from the junction with the Burlington Northern Santa Fe in Cheney to the Geiger Spur.

The good news, however, “The majority of the project is finished,” Josh Austin, area manager for contractor, RailWorks, said. “We’re pretty much done with the rails and ties,” he added.

That allows trains to use the track that was upgraded in order to service the new Highline Grain shuttle facility at Four Lakes, targeted for first use in January 2016.

“Once it gets cold like that it’s hard for us to perform any work with the ties,” Austin said. “We actually got one week in where it was warm enough to disturb the ground, we got lucky.”

Currently a small crew is working along the line removing old ties and rail, both of which will be recycled in some manner. “If we can see them under the snow,” Austin said.

Austin said he did not know what the state had in mind for the old rail but speculated it might find use in other parts of the short-line system owned by the state of Washington. The state owns three such operations.

Most of the ties will be ground and used to fuel some type of electrical power generation, with maybe a few being resold for use in landscaping Austin said.

The contract has been suspended, Austin said. “It is in negotiation right now, I don’t know when the final completion date is going to be.”

He suspects that work will resume sometime early in 2016 with a completion date soon after. “Come the first thaw in late February, early March we’ll be back at it,” Austin said.

RailWorks specializes in constructing track for short line railroads but they do specialty work for Class 1 lines like the BNSF, private lines, public and state, as well as port districts.

Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Our Family of Publications Includes:

Cheney Free Press
Ritzville Adams County Journal
Whitman County Gazette
Odessa Record
Franklin Connection
Davenport Times
Spokane Valley News Herald
Colfax Daily Bulletin

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024