WASHINGTON — Montana Rail Link’s main line will remain severed through the end of July, BNSF Railway told federal regulators last week.
The former Northern Pacific route has been shut down since the June 24 bridge collapse and hazardous materials derailment in the Yellowstone River in Reed Point, Mont. Bridge construction began once the last of 10 derailed cars was removed from the river and remaining cars were removed from the east side of the bridge on July 3, according to a unified command update.
“Bridge construction efforts continue as planned. While there is no set timeframe available currently, the goal is to resume normal operations by August,” MRL spokesman Andy Garland says.
BNSF has been updating the Surface Transportation Board weekly on its progress in handling export coal from Navajo Transitional Energy Co.’s Spring Creek mine in Montana to British Columbia. In a preliminary injunction last month, the board ordered BNSF to meet volume commitments for NTEC.
“The collapsed MRL bridge remains out of service and continues to reduce the overall rail network capacity available for BNSF’s transportation of export coal and other commodities as both loaded and empty trains must follow detour routes. In an effort to minimize impacts to our customers, including NTEC, we have added locomotives to our existing fleet in the Northern Region and were able to reach an agreement with MRL and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) that allows MRL crews to temporarily operate detoured BNSF trains,” BNSF’s filing said last week.
BNSF has been rerouting about 20 trains per day over its Northern Transcon. MRL crews are handling loaded coal trains on BNSF’s route from Laurel to Great Falls and Great Falls to Shelby.
Cleanup crews continue to monitor the Yellowstone River for clumps of asphalt that leaked from a derailed tank car that was submerged in the river.
“Response teams continue daily river operations for asphalt material cleanup on the Yellowstone River. Most of the material has been found on river islands, and a few back channels and riverbanks. Operations will likely continue for weeks as efforts progress downriver,” unified command said in a July 15 update.
Note: Updated at 11:27 a.m. Central with comment from Montana Rail Link.
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