Search
Advertisement

Local News

| Digg | Facebook | E-mail | Print
Dec 21, 2007 2:36 pm US/Eastern

Barge Crashes Into North Shore Commuter Bridge

BEVERLY (WBZ) ― Friday's evening commute should be a lot smoother than the morning commute for many people who ride the rails north of Boston.

All Commuter Rail passengers on the Newburyport Rockport Commuter Rail line were bused between the Beverly Depot and Salem stations Friday morning after a barge hit the Beverly-Salem railroad "pivot" bridge.

The bridge, which is only used by commuter trains to cross the Danvers River, was closed while inspectors surveyed the damage.

The bridge was re-opened Friday at 1pm after a temporary fix was put in place allowing the bridge to remain locked into position. However trains will only be allowed to drive 10 mph when crossing the bridge.

The bridge will be closed again on Saturday from 7am to 5pm while a permanent fix to the bridge is done.

The good news is T officials say the bridge did not suffer any major structural damage when it was rammed by the barge.

MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo says inspectors found signs of mechanical damage to the pivoting system which allows boat traffic to pass below the bridge. But he says there was no indication of significant structural damage to the bridge itself, as had been earlier feared.

According to the T, about 8,000 people use the Newburyport - Rockport commuter rail daily.

Here's the thing, the MBTA didn't have enough buses to transport the hundreds of commuters stuck north of the drawbridge. Pesaturo says all of the trains that run on the line are trapped north of the bridge and there weren't enough buses to accommodate every passenger who normally takes the train into Boston.

So instead they advised everyone to seek alternate transportation. The MBTA suggests commuters instead drive to either the Wonderland stop along the Blue Line or Anderson Station in Woburn along the Lowell Commuter Rail line to get into Boston.

Many elected to stay home from work instead of being really late to work.

At least one commuter told us they felt they were treated "like cattle". Victoria Kunzer of Wenham was on board the first train of the morning at 5:45 and describes how things were handled.

"Instead of notifying customers as we arrived on the train of the issue we were taken to the Beverly Depot station and told to get off to wait for buses.  The train sat there as all of the riders waited in the cold and snow for more than 30 minutes," Kunzer wrote. "Elderly people were very cold and people were offering coats and hats to them.  People where pounding on the windows demanding to be let back on to wait in train to wait for the bus."

Unfortunately for Victoria and other commuters like her, it appears things didn't get much better after buses arrived. She writes "We were shuttled to Salem and forced to wait for the 30 minutes more... I wouldn't be surprised if people become very ill from what happened today. I've taken better public transportation in third world countries; I'm ashamed of Boston's MBTA.  I wish I had a better option besides driving to travel into Boston."

The Coast Guard says the boat was transporting dredge material outbound on the Danvers River to Beverly Harbor at the time of the accident.

The T's General Manager blamed the operators of the barge. "This is not the first time we've had the barge bump into the bridge. It's the first time it's caused significant problems, said Dan Grabauskas. "My plan is to reach out to the Coast Guard and let them know, as far as I'm concerned all operations of this drudging have to stop. Until such time as whoever is doing this operation brings in either a shorter barge or is able to assure me that there is some other methodology that they can use so we're not gonna see this happen again."

No one was hurt in the accident.

Is there something more you would like us to know about this story? Do you have a news tip to share with WBZ?

Email Us and be part of our news gathering team.

(© 2008 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

From Our Partners

Video

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

Local News

Top News Stories

Advertisement

© MMVIII, CBS Corporation. All rights reserved.