Train Derails on Bridge III: Recovery in Progress

Montreal, QC - EvilGentleman - Friday, February 24th, 2006 : goo

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Day 7 of the recovery effort is dedicated to removing the second flatbed container car from the bridge. The other railcars that were closer to shore from this one have been removed on earlier days. (see here and here

I spoke to some of the workers, and they told me that 1050 feet of the bridge suffered fairly serious damage, involving broken rails, over 1000 broken and damaged wooden railroad ties, some broken access ladders, demolished wooden maintenance platforms and other damage.

The major difficulty is the fact that the crane they are using (a contract job, their crane was not operational) is not specifically made for railway use, and has no rail wheels, but rubber tires instead. This allows 6 inches of space on either side of the tires, and no place for the crane to extend its lateral stabilizing support arms. They had to improvise a solution by placing metal platforms on the gap between the two sides of the bridge, in order to allow the crane to operate.

The recovery operation begins on the second flatbed container (railcar}

CP Rail workers discuss the job at hand while leaning on wheels removed from the flatbed container car in question.

One of the cranes heading out onto the bridge

Cornerstone of the bridge located on pier facing south side of Lasalle Avenue. Date of completion is noted as July 30, 1887.

Montreal City Firefighters wait on the ice about 200 meters offshore with an inflatable rescue boat in case any workers fall off the bridge. The Mercier Bridge is in the background.

The crane gets into lifting position, while workers connect the cables.

While lifting the car, a man walks along the superstructure to the recovery site from the Kahnawake side of the bridge, and starts taking pictures of the derailment. I was standing next to the workers who were keeping an eye on the situation from the shore, and I could hear a lot of concern over their radio. They were going to send a car around to the Kahnawake side of the bridge to arrest him when he returned, but he left after a few minutes, so they cancelled the arrest plan.

A closeup of the man from Kahnawake approaching the derailment.

Continuing the job, they start levelling the railcar with the crane.

Finally upright on metal beams, this part of the job is complete. The next stage is to attach cables to the railcar (which has no wheels), and to drag it to land with two locomotives, where the crane can more easily lift the railcar so workers can reattach the wheels and put it back on the rails. This second part was to be done either after dark or next morning, so I left.

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