Railroad troubles at Shames mountain

The Terrace Standard is reporting that the railroad track bed at the Shames River flat area has been breached by the Skeena, a ten metre breach that is sending water through to the flats and sagging the rails.

Skeena causing havoc on rails
12:38:08PM, Jun 06 2007
The Terrace Standard

TRANSPORTATION OFFICIALS are now saying Skeena River water is pouring through a 10-metre breach along the CN track bed that parallels Hwy16 along the Shames River flat west of Terrace.

"That's not good news at all," Don Ramsay said today at noon. " There's copious amounts of water filling up the flats and I don't know how deep it is."

"There's a tremendous amount of back pressure from the river there and the tracks are starting to sag."

Ramsay said the only thing that crews can do is wait for the Skeena to recede.

Meanwhile, Kelli Svendsen of CN says the idea of using ballast to form the track bed is to allow water through so as not to affect the bed.

She could not confirm the amount of water now seeping through the ballast and on to the highway.

"This is why CN has closed the tracks between Smithers and Prince Rupert," said Svendsen of flood waters.

She said workers can only begin to assess the situation and devise a plan for reconstruction once the river has receded.