Where are they? The ‘silence of the trains’ becomes deafening as fire cripples West Coast rail service

By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — Catastrophic wildfire damage to a Union Pacific railroad bridge in northern California has put a complete stop to train traffic through the Highway 58 corridor.

There hasn’t been a freight or passenger train on Union Pacific’s main West Coast line south of Eugene since Monday, July 12, and a spokesman for the railroad says there is no estimate when rail traffic will resume on the route.

The rail crisis was created by the Lava Fire in California’s Siskiyou County, which has caused 25,000 acres of destruction at the base of Mount Shasta. Besides burning timber, grass and brush, the blaze has wreaked havoc on the highly-trafficked Union Pacific rail line.

The Lava Fire has burned for miles around the UP’s railroad line along the foot of Mount Shasta. At times, fire officials used the tracks as a fire break during the initial battle against the fire. UP even had their firefighting train on-site working the fire. Unfortunately, since the lightning-sparked blaze began on June 24, the line suffered significant damage to an unconfirmed length of the rail and has caused what the railroad said is “catastrophic damage” to the 1,100-foot-long Dry Canyon Bridge just north of the Hotlum siding.

“Due to damage caused by the wildfires in Northern California, Union Pacific Railroad closed the railroad line that runs through the Shasta-Trinity National Forest on June 28 in Siskiyou County,“ said Robynn Tysver communications manager for Union Pacific.

The shutdown has been particularly dramatic for Oakridge residents, who are accustomed to the rumble of trains and the blasting of train horns at crossings almost every hour of the day. Since July 12 the community has heard only the occasional sound of a work crew riding the rails to distant points in the mountains for track repairs and other infrastructure work.

Union Pacific’s Tysver added, “Fire damaged both our track and the Dry Canyon Bridge, near Hotlum, Calif., impacting rail operations between Redding, California, and Eugene, Oregon. Freight trains are being diverted over Donner Pass.”

There is no estimated time of when the rail line will reopen. Until then freight will continue to be diverted around the trestle and line repairs.

“We are no longer actively fighting the fire and work is underway to repair the track and the bridge,” said Tysver. “We are still assessing the damage and we do not have a timetable for when this work will be done or how long freight trains will be diverted.”