Whamo Wrote:
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> Seeing comments that it was a rickety bridge prior
> to failure. If so, why did the operator push
> their luck and endanger people?
The railroad is responsible for annual bridge inspections. Many operators contract out to bridge engineers who do the bridge inspections. The bridges are rated and if deemed unsafe taken out of service. It's not about pushing luck or endangering people. Usually timber bridges show signs of failure, settling ,out of level, out of alignment.Seldom do they suddenly fail.
Video shows the bridge had been fire damaged.This may have weakened the structure without showing the usual signs. One aspect of short lines taking over trackage from class 1's is deferred maintenance. The Cal Northern lines as an example began as class 2 and class 3 track . They end up being mostly class 1 ten mile an hour track without the deep pockets to rebuild bridges and tunnels.