Wrecked track equipment moved

Published Wednesday, February 7th, 2007

By Anna King, Tri-City Herald staff writer


Workers on Tuesday towed to safety a piece of motorized track equipment that dangled from a bridge over the Columbia River.
In heavy fog, Union Pacific Railroad workers backed two locomotives towing a crane onto the Benton County side of the bridge and used chains to tow the dangling tie crane away as they lowered the bridge span. The tie crane -- used to replace railroad ties on lengths of track -- was towed off the bridge about 10:30 a.m.
The rig was on its way over the river from Burbank to Finley about 3 p.m. Monday when the bridge started to open. The driver of the tie crane jumped to safety before the equipment reached the gap in the bridge and tipped over.
The crane didn't fall in the river because the hydraulic-operated arm, or boom, was caught on the bridge.
The bridge has no operator, and the tie lift operator should have been able to stop like any other vehicle, Davis said. Trains going 60 mph can take up to 11/2 miles to stop, but a tie lift should have been able to stop, he said. Union Pacific wouldn't release the operator's name or condition.
Some hydraulic fluid may have spilled into the river, but the spill isn't believed to be significant, he said. There was a sheen of oil on the Columbia River, but environmental contractors worked to clean up the spilled fuel on the bridge and in the river.
"We had an environmental contractor go down and place booms in the river to collect any fuel that had been spilled," Davis said.
Joye Redfield-Wilder, state Department of Ecology spokeswoman, said the vehicle carried about 30 gallons of hydraulic fluid and 50 gallons of diesel. Ecology officials don't believe that much diesel was spilled into the river because the vehicle's engine was running all Monday night, she said.
"We won't know more until they get the equipment down and they can figure out what was lost," she said.
Columbia Basin Dive Rescue and Ecology officials stayed at the rescue site in case a worker or the equipment fell into the river.
Herman Livingston, who lives near the bridge in Finely, braved the cold to watch the rescue.
"It was awesome to say the least," the 64-year-old retiree said. "It's the most excitement we've had out here for a while."