Railroad bridge is rebuilt
jean caspers simmet
Date Modified: 10/08/2009 10:19 AM
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Agri News staff writer
WATERLOO, Iowa -- By the end of this week, Iowa Northern Railway Company trains will be crossing the Cedar River in downtown Waterloo.
When the railroad bridge was destroyed by flooding in June 2008, it cut the shortline in two.
At last week's ceremony marking its completion, the new bridge was ready to go except for some rails that needed to be laid. Gov. Chet Culver and U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley were among the officials attending the event.
Union Pacific owns the bridge, but the Iowa Northern Is the only railroad that uses it to handle all Union Pacific's traffic for them. Under an agreement between the two, Iowa Northern paid 50 percent or about $3 million for bridge reconstruction.
Iowa Northern president Dan Sabin said grants covered much of Iowa Northern's cost as well as repairs to rail line washouts caused by the flood.
"Congressman Braley has been just great," Sabin said. "He literally got an Act of Congress to help with our portion of the bridge. The Iowa Legislature, Iowa Department of Transportation and Governor Culver's office worked very carefully with us to fill the gap. That allowed us to survive."
"When the bridge went down, I immediately told my staff I have to get on the next plane back to Iowa and see what I can do," Braley said. "I told my staff we're going to find any train leaving the station to get funding for this bridge."
Culver said it took a public/private teamwork at the local, state and national level to get the bridge built.
"This was a critical infrastructure project, and it's one example of what we're doing all across this state to modernize our entire infrastructure," Culver said. "Iowa has been recognized as the eighth-fastest growing economy and the fourth best place to do business in the country. These very positive economic indicators suggest that Iowa is moving forward despite a tough national recession."
The bridge was rebuilt with the help of a $2.1 million grant from the Federal Railroad Rehabilitation and Repair Program.
Since the bridge was destroyed, Iowa Northern has had to detour trains over 300 miles, accruing significant extra costs for the railroad and its customers. Sabin estimates that being able to use the bridge will mean $800,000 per month in net restoration of bottom line.
John Deere, Tyson and Archer Daniels Midland rely on the bridge for deliveries and have suffered millions of dollars in added transportation costs while the bridge was out, Braley said. Local grain cooperatives suffered reduce capacity.
"We're glad the bridge is going to open," said Wil Manweiler, grain department manager at Dunkerton Cooperative Elevator. "We're starting to see better bids coming out of Cedar Rapids because of it. The detour cost us five to twelve cents per bushel."